Eveliina Lammentausta1, Samo Lasic2,
Daniel Topgaard2, Olle Sderman2, Leif E. Dahlberg3
1Department of Clinical Sciences,
Malm, Joint and Soft Tissue Unit, University of Lund, Malm, Sweden; 2Department
of Physical Chemistry, University of Lund, Lund, Sweden; 3Department
of Orthopaedics, Malm University Hospital, Malm, Sweden
The
aim of the study was to investigate the distribution of ionic and non-ionic
contrast agent in human hip cartilage. T1 relaxation time of osteochondral
plugs were measured before and regularly after the exposure to the contrast
agent until ten hours. Significant difference between the two contrast agents
was observed. The amount of ionic contrast agent was considerably smaller
compared to non-ionic, especially in deep cartilage. Ionic contrast agent
reached equilibrium, whereas the amount of non-ionic contrast agent kept
increasing even after ten hours. This suggests that maximum uptake of ionic
contrast agent is controlled by the properties of cartilage.