The Early Application Of MRI T2-mapping Technique On Cartilage Injury Related To Medial Patellar Plica

Objective:to measure T2 values of the articular cartilage in patients with Medial Patellar Plica (MPP) compared with healthy subjects of same age group, to analyze and evaluate the variation law of T2 values of with articular cartilage injury.MRI scanning and treatment of T2 values in order that the degree of seriousness of articular cartilage injury can be indirectly reflected and the early diagnosis and treatment can be helped in the Medial Patellar Plica(MPP)Syndrome. The ground is provided for monitoring articular cartilage injury and evaluating clinical recovery of articular cartilage.Materials and methods:1. clinical resource:By collecting the data of 35 cases of patients with MPP from September,2009 to Februry, 2011 and 40 knee articular cartilages of 22 healthy subjects of the same age group, who were examined with sagittal 4-echo SE sequence.T2-weighted images were done and then were processed on GE workstation using a FUNCTOOL 4.4 software to construct T2-mappings. Appropriate regions of interest are selected and articular cartilage T2 values of control group and patients are measured respectively.2. The cases of patient group are divided into group A and group B according to the width of MPP3. to analyze the T2 values differences of articular cartilage of control group and MPP patient group statistically. The comparison of T2 values of articular cartilage between control group and patient group A adopts independent-sample t test, while the comparison of T2 values of corresponding articular cartilage surface between control group and patient group B adopts independent-sample t test. The comparison of T2 values of corresponding articular cartilage between patient group A and group B adopts independent-sample t test.Results 1. The comparison of T2 values in the medial femoral cartilage and patella cartilage between 40 articular cartilages of 22 control group and 13 MPP patient group A and 22 MPP patient group B.The T2 average values in the medial femoral cartilage and patella cartilage of 40 articular cartilages of 22 control group respectively are:48.49±4.47ms; 51.40±4.97ms. The T2 average values in the medial femoral cartilage and patella cartilage of 13 MPP patient group A are: 49.04±2.70ms; 50.01±4.36ms. The T2 average values in the medial femoral cartilage and patella cartilage of 22 MPP patient group B are:50.35±2.35ms; 54.39±4.72ms. There was no significant difference between T2 values of control group and those of patient group A (P> 0.05). The T2 values of control group were lower than those of group B and there was significant difference between the two (P<0.05). The T2 values of patient group A were lower than those of group B and there is significant difference between the two (P<0.05)2.The space distributing features of T2-mappings in the medial femoral cartilage and patella cartilage of 40 knees in 22 control group,13 MPP patient group A and 22 MPP patient group B:The T2 mappings in the medial femoral cartilage and patella cartilage of 40 knees in 22 control group,13 MPP patient group A were demonstrated clearness,35 of them were contained homogeneous green color-coded pixels,and the rest were showed mainly green color-coded pixels with focal blue color-coded pixels.22 MPP patient group B were showed the focal yellow or red color-coded pixels regions with higher T2 values were increased than that of normal,while the bule and green pixel areas with comparatively low T2 values decrease.Conclusion1. The MPP existence increases the risks of corresponding cartilage injury.2. T2 values become higher with the degree of seriousness of articular cartilages. T2 mapping image technique can sensitively reflect the component change of articular cartilage before the evident change of morphology outline and help with the clinical diagnosis and therapy of MPP symptom.