Review Article Cartilage Repair Surgery: Outcome Evaluation by Using Noninvasive Cartilage Biomarkers Based on

Copyright © 2014 Pia M. Jungmann et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background. New quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques are increasingly applied as outcome measures after cartilage repair. Objective. To review the current literature on the use of quantitative MRI biomarkers for evaluation of cartilage repair at the knee and ankle. Methods. Using PubMed literature research, studies on biochemical, quantitative MR imaging of cartilage repair were identified and reviewed. Results. Quantitative MR biomarkers detect early degeneration of articular cartilage, mainly represented by an increasing water content, collagen disruption, and proteoglycan loss. Recently, feasibility of biochemical MR imaging of cartilage repair tissue and surrounding cartilage was demonstrated. Ultrastructural properties of the tissue afte