Seungbum Koo1, Ernesto Staroswiecki1,2, Neal Bangerter3, Brian Hargreaves1, Garry Gold1
1Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; 2Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; 3Electrical & Computer Engineering, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA
Sodium MRI is sensitive to proteoglycan loss in cartilage. The goals of this study were twofold: to attempt to identify any age-related change of sodium signal in the knee cartilage, and to assess the repeatability of sodium signal measurements in cartilage at two time points. Fifteen subjects (ages 21 to 48 years) were scanned using sodium MRI. This relatively young population did not show age-dependent change in cartilage sodium signal but their medial tibiofemoral cartilage had significantly higher sodium signal than other regions. The average variability of the cartilage sodium signal within 48 hours was 6.6%.