Standard resolution MR images with fat-suppressed contrast lead to an objective and reproducible measurement of spatial dimensions of articular cartilage when analyzed semi-automatically using computerized edge-detection methods.
A new multisample magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique has been used to measure the values of T1, T2, magnetization transfer (MT) rate and liquid proton density ratio (M0%) for water in fresh and frozen–thawed beef, lamb and pork; four samples from the longissimus dorsi muscle of 25 different individuals per species were studied. The effect of two different chilling regimes, standard and tenderloin, were also studied. Standard chilled pork and lamb had a significantly higher M0% than tenderloin chilled samples, but there was no correlation between M0% and fresh weight; the differences in M0% are thought to be due to differences in MR (magnetic resonance)‐visible water. There was a significant decrease in water content, T1 relaxation time, and a significant increase in MT rate in the frozen–thawed samples when all the data were pooled for each species. However, individual animals differed in the magnitude and direction of the change; this means that because of interanimal variation, measurements of MR parameters from a single sample of meat cannot be used at present to authenticate it.
This study showed that magnetic resonance imaging can be used to visualize partial thickness cartilage lesions, 0.7 x 10 mm in area and 0.5 mm in depth, surgically induced in the femur (femoropatellar compartment) of a mini-pig knee joint. Formalin-fixed joints, intact as well as disarticulated, were studied by high resolution imaging using a 2.35 T, 31 cm horizontal-bore superconducting magnet. The two-dimensional and three-dimensional spatial resolutions achievable were as follows: 0.12 x 0.23 mm (two-dimensional) and 0.35 x 0.35 x 0.35 mm (three-dimensional) for the intact joint, and 0.08 x 0.08 mm (two-dimensional) and 0.14 x 0.14 x 0.27 mm (three-dimensional) for the disarticulated joint. These results demonstrate that magnetic resonance imaging, together with edge detection and volume rendering, can be used to visualize focal cartilage lesions.
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