Guillaume Madelin1, Gregory Chang2, Alexej Jerschow3, Ravinder R. Regatte2
1Radiology, New York University, New York, NY, United States; 2Radiology Department, New York University Medical Center, New York, NY, United States; 3Chemistry Department, New York University, New York, NY, United States
Quantitative sodium MRI is highly specific to the glycosaminoglycan content in cartilage and could be used to assess the biochemical degradation of cartilage in early stages of osteoarthritis (OA). In this preliminary study we show that quantitative sodium MRI with fluid suppression by adiabatic inversion recovery reduces significantly the partial volume effect from synovial fluids or joint effusion in the measurements of sodium concentrations in articular cartilage, and therefore may allow to better differentiate OA patients from healthy controls.