title: Real-time ultrasound analysis of articular cartilage degradation in vitro.
abstract: The sensitivity of the reflection coefficient, attenuation and velocity to the enzymatic degradation of bovine patellar cartilage was evaluated in real-time with high-frequency ultrasound (US) (29.4 MHz). These parameters were estimated from the radiofrequency (RF) signal, which was recorded at 5-min intervals during the digestion of the tissue by collagenase or by trypsin. The coefficient of reflection at cartilage surface decreased by 78.5% and 10.5% (p < 0.05) after 6 h of exposure to collagenase and 4 h of exposure to trypsin, respectively. During the trypsin digestion, the attenuation in cartilage increased by 0.274 dB/mm (p < 0.05) and the velocity decreased by 7 m/s (p < 0.05). The coefficient of reflection at the cartilage surface was the most sensitive acoustic parameter to the enzymatic degradation of cartilage and may be the easiest to implement for clinical diagnosis of cartilage quality. US velocity was found to be insensitive to degradation. The small difference in mean velocity between the control and degraded cartilage suggests that a constant predefined US velocity value can be used to obtain diagnostically acceptable measurement of the cartilage thickness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital, University of Kuopio, 70211 Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: Heikki J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Nieminen
authors.forename: Juha
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Töyräs
authors.forename: Jarno
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rieppo
authors.forename: Miika T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Nieminen
authors.forename: Jani
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hirvonen
authors.forename: Rami
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Korhonen
authors.forename: Jukka S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Jurvelin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology*; D002417:Cattle; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D011846:Radio Waves; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods