Zana Hawezi1, Carl Johan Tiderius2, Jonas Svensson3, Leif E. Dahlberg2, Eveliina Lammentausta1
1Joint and Soft Tissue Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences, University of Lund, Malm, Sweden; 2Department of Orthopaedics, University of Lund, Malm, Sweden; 3Department of Radiation Physics, University of Lund, Malm, Sweden
dGEMRIC technique has been developed to assess GAG content of articular cartilage. T1 relaxation time of femoral articular cartilage was measured before Gd-DTPA administration and 1, 2, 3 and 4 hours after triple dose Gd-DTPA administration. The most superficial and deep regions were analyzed. Before contrast agent administration, T1 values of deep and superficial cartilage differed from each other. Also the change of deep and superficial T1 as a function of time was different. By analyzing dGEMRIC results separately for deep and superficial cartilage, additional information about cartilage could be obtained.