Quantitative Evaluation of Human Cadaveric Posterior Cruciate Ligament: Effect of Trypsin Digestion on T1rho Values.

Patrick Omoumi¹, Eric S. Diaz¹, Jiang Du¹, Sheronda S. Statum¹, Won C. Bae¹, Graeme Bydder¹, Christine B. Chung¹

Quantitative methods have been developed to probe early degenerative changes for the cartilage, and more recently applied to menisci. T2 values are thought to mainly be influenced by the organization and concentration of collagen fibers, whereas T1rho values are correlated with the concentration of glycosaminoglycans (GAG), the influence of collagen on T1rho values remaining controversial. As in cartilage and menisci, ligaments are mainly composed of collagen GAGs3,4. We sought to evaluate the feasibility of conventional and novel UTE quantitative techniques for T1rho measurements of the PCL, and study the effect of the selective removal of GAG molecules by an enzymatic digestion5,6.