Magnetic resonance imaging of articular cartilage

Abstract

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging has proven to be an accurate noninvasive method for the evaluation of articular cartilage [1-13], demonstrating morphologic changes as well as biochemical and structural changes. This chapter will concentrate on the morphologic imaging of articular cartilage and articular cartilage repair procedures using MR. Multiple MR pulse sequences have been used to evaluate the morphology of articular cartilage, but the most widely used clinically are proton density or T2-weighted fast spin-echo (FSE, TSE) sequences with or without fat suppression.