title: Feasibility of in vivo diffusion tensor imaging of articular cartilage with coverage of all cartilage regions.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the value of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) of articular cartilage to differentiate healthy from osteoarthritis (OA) subjects in all cartilage regions.
  
  
  METHODS
  DTI was acquired sagittally at 7 T in ten healthy and five OA (Kellgren-Lawrence grade 2) subjects with a line scan diffusion tensor sequence (LSDTI). Three healthy volunteers and two OA subjects were examined twice to assess the test-retest reproducibility. Averaged mean diffusivity (MD) and fractional anisotropy (FA) were calculated in each cartilage region (femoral trochlea, lateral and medial femoral condyles, patella, and lateral and medial tibia).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The test-retest reproducibility was 2.9% for MD and 5.6% for FA. Averaged MD was significantly increased (+20%, p < 0.05) in the OA subjects in the lateral femoral condyle, lateral tibia and the femoral trochlea compartments. Averaged FA presented a trend of lower values in the OA subjects (-12%), which was only significant for the lateral tibia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In vivo DTI of articular cartilage with coverage of all cartilage regions using an LSDTI sequence is feasible, shows excellent reproducibility for MD and FA, and holds potential for the diagnosis of OA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  • DTI of articular cartilage is feasible at 7 T in all cartilage regions • DTI of articular cartilage can potentially differentiate healthy and OA subjects.
authors.affiliation: Department Radiology, New York University Langone Medical Center, 660 First Avenue, 4th Floor, 10016, New York, NY, USA, Jose.Raya@nyumc.org.
authors.forename: José G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Raya
authors.forename: Eike
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dettmann
authors.forename: Mike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Notohamiprodjo
authors.forename: Svetlana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Krasnokutsky
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abramson
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Glaser
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000473:pathology*; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results