Clinical Study On MR DWI Applied To Human Patella Cartilage

Objective: To evaluate the clinical significance of quantitative measurement ADC value of patella cartilage on MR DWI.Materials and Methods: Thirty-six knees of healthy volunteers, 18 of osteoarthritis(OA) and 6 of acute injuried knees were imaged with MR DWI. The patella cartilage were divided into 3 portions (superior, middle and inferior) and each portion was divided into 3 parts (medial, middle and lateral). The ADC of each part were measured and compared with each other.Results: 1, In healthy volunteers, the ADCav of patella cartilage was (7.80 2.27) 10-4mm2/s. The ADCav among S-M-I portions was not significantly different (P>0.951) and the ADCav of middle portion was lower than that of superior and inferior portions. From the medial to lateral, the ADCav was up gradually, but which showed no significantly different between groups (P>0. 073) .2, In OA patients, the ADCav of patella cartilage was (10.45 4.05) 10-4mm2/s. The ADCav among S-M-I portions was not significantly different (P >0.910) and from the superior to inferior the ADCav showed descent gradually. The ADCav between every parts showed no significantly different (P>0. 073) .3, The ADCav of the healthy volunteers was lower than that of the OA group (t=-2. 577, P=0. 017) and the ADC of each part was also the same. Except the Superior-Lateral, Middle-Lateral, Inferior-Middle and Inferior-Lareral parts, the others were significantly different.4, In acute injuried group, the ADCav were (9.89 2.61) X 10-4mm2/s and (4. 98 2. 81) 10-4mm2/s for pain-side and the other side. It was significantly different from each other (t=4.51, P=0.000) .Conclusion: DWI and ADC value could give a quantitative criteria for abnormal microscopic motion of water which is caused by early biochemistry structure change of the patella cartilage. DWI is a useful method in detecting the cartilage injury(including osteoarthritis.and acute injuried cartilage).