Eveliina Lammentausta1, Carl Johan Tiderius2,
Leif E. Dahlberg2
1Department of Clinical Sciences,
Malm, Joint and Soft Tissue Unit, University of Lund, Malm, Sweden; 2Department
of Orthopaedics, Malm University Hospital, Malm, Sweden
The
aim of the study was to investigate the distribution of Gd-DTPA2-
into human knee cartilage in vivo at areas of different loading conditions.
T1 relaxation time was measured before and regularly after triple does
(0.3mM/kg) injection of Gd-DTPA2- for five healthy volunteers.
Contrast agent transport was analyzed for three regions in femur and one in
tibia, for deep and superficial cartilage separately. Different transport
patterns were observed between weight-bearing and non-weight-bearing regions.
The transport into deep cartilage was remarkably slower indicating transport
only through cartilage surface.