Saline versus gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance arthrography of porcine cartilage.
OBJECTIVE
The authors compared saline and dilute gadopentetate dimeglumine as injectants for magnetic resonance (MR) arthrography.


METHODS
Sixty-three lesions were created on the joint surfaces of six pig patellas. MR arthrography (1.5 T) was performed with the specimens in saline and then in 2 mmol gadopentetate dimeglumine by using fat-saturated two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) sequences. Two musculoskeletal radiologists independently interpreted the images.


RESULTS
At 2D MR arthrography, reader 1 performed equally well with saline and gadolinium solutes, whereas reader 2 had better sensitivity with the saline solute (P < .05); interobserver agreement was equivalent for saline and gadolinium solutes. With 3D MR arthrography, reader 2 performed equally well with saline and gadolinium solutes, whereas reader 1 had better sensitivity (P < .0001) but poorer specificity (P < .001) with the gadolinium solute; interobserver agreement was significantly better for saline than for gadopentetate dimeglumine (P < .05).


CONCLUSIONS
In this initial evaluation, there was no clear advantage to using gadolinium-enhanced MR arthrography over saline MR arthrography for detecting lesions in porcine hyaline cartilage.
Yao
L
L
Department of Radiological Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, 90095, USA.
Gentili
A
A
Seeger
L L
LL
D000818:Animals; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000473:pathology*; D003287:Contrast Media; D004338:Drug Combinations; D005682:Gadolinium; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008536:Meglumine; D015588:Observer Variation; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D004369:Pentetic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D013552:Swine
D003287:Contrast Media; D004338:Drug Combinations; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D008536:Meglumine; D004369:Pentetic Acid; D005682:Gadolinium; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA