MR Contrast Arthrography (MRA) in Osteochondrosis Dissecans

Comparison study of intraarticular and intravenous gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of cartilage in a canine model

“…MR arthrography has been used to evaluate the articular cartilage of joints for more than 10 years (14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19). Direct MR arthrography with the injection of a dilute solution of gadolinium directly into the joint (iGEMRIC) improves the visualization of cartilage, owing to the contrast between cartilage and the injected fluid (1,44).…”

“…Therefore, iGEMRIC provides better contrast than dGEMRIC. Although the sensitivity of MR arthrography for the demonstration of clinically relevant cartilage damage is 80-100%, the sensitivity decreases to 0-29% for the early stage of damage manifested as circumscribed softening and swelling of the cartilage (17,18,45,46). Unlike MR arthrography, dGEMRIC is a very sensitive and useful technique for demonstrating early damage of articular cartilage (1,20,22,23,27).…”

The morphology of articular cartilage assessed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

“…Intraarticular contrast agents, which greatly enhance the delineation of the articular surface [6,10,21,22], are invasive and cause patient discomfort. Therefore other techniques have been developed to improve contrast, such as MTC (magnetic transfer contrast) [39,[42][43][44], MPRAGE (magnetization-prepared rapid gradient echo) [29], DESS (dual echo at steady state) [24] and fat suppression [30,37].…”

Surgical management of osteochondritis dissecans of the knee

“…While Kramer et al reported an improvement in diagnostic accuracy from 57.4 % to 100 % in adults, using intraarticular gadolinium [45], others have been unable to reproduce these claims [46]. In patients with significant osseous defects, CT may be useful for lesion characterization and surgical planning, but it is not useful in determining lesional stability [20,25].…”