title: Assessing the effect of football play on knee articular cartilage using delayed gadolinium-enhanced MRI of cartilage (dGEMRIC).
abstract: The prevalence of cartilage lesions is much higher in football athletes than in the general population. Delayed gadolinium-enhanced MRI of cartilage (dGEMRIC) has been shown to quantify regional variations of glycosaminoglycan (GAG) concentrations which is an indicator of early cartilage degeneration. The goal of this study is to determine whether dGEMRIC can be used to assess the influence in cartilage GAG concentration due to college level football play. Thirteen collegiate football players with one to four years of collegiate football play experience were recruited and both knee joints were scanned using a dedicated 8-channel phased array knee coil on a 3T MRI system. The contrast concentrations within cartilage were calculated based on the T1values from dGEMRIC scans. No substantial differences were found in the contrast concentrations between the pre- and post-season across all the cartilage compartments. One year collegiate football players presented an average contrast concentration at the pre-season of 0.116±0.011mM and post-season of 0.116±0.011mM. In players with multiple years of football play, contrast uptake was elevated to 0.141±0.012mM at the pre-season and 0.139±0.012mM at the post-season. The pre-season 0.023±0.016mM and post-season 0.025±0.016mM increase in contrast concentration within the group with multiple years of experience presented with a >20% increase in contrast uptake. This may indicate the gradual, cumulative damage of football play to the articular cartilage over years, even though the effect may not be noticeable after a season of play. Playing collegiate football for a longer period of time may lead to cartilage microstructural alterations, which may be linked to early knee cartilage degeneration.
authors.affiliation: Wright Center of Innovation in Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States.
authors.forename: Wenbo
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States.
authors.forename: Becky
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lambach
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, United States.
authors.forename: Guang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Flanigan
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States; School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States.
authors.forename: Ajit M W
authors.initials: AMW
authors.lastname: Chaudhari
authors.affiliation: Center for Biostatistics, Department of Biomedical Informatics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States.
authors.forename: Lai
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Wright Center of Innovation in Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.affiliation: Wright Center of Innovation in Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States.
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Payne
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States; School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States.
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Siston
authors.affiliation: Wright Center of Innovation in Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States. Electronic address: knopp.16@osu.edu.
authors.forename: Michael V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Knopp
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D056352:Athletes; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000737:chemistry*; D005538:Football; D005682:Gadolinium / Q000737:chemistry*; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA / Q000737:chemistry; D006025:Glycosaminoglycans / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D006025:Glycosaminoglycans; D005682:Gadolinium; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA
keywords: Collegiate football player; Delayed gadolinium-enhanced MRI of cartilage; Glycosaminoglycan; Knee articular cartilage