Longitudinal assessment of femoral knee cartilage quality using contrast enhanced MRI (dGEMRIC) in patients with anterior cruciate ligament injury – comparison with asymptomatic volunteers

SummaryObjectiveIn this observational longitudinal study we estimate knee joint cartilage glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content, in patients with an acute anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, with or without a concomitant meniscus injury.Methods29 knees (19 men/10 women) were prospectively examined by repeat delayed gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of cartilage (dGEMRIC), approximately 3 weeks and 2.3±1.3 (range 4.5) years after the injury. We estimated the GAG content (T1Gd) in the central weight-bearing parts of the medial and lateral femoral cartilage and compared results with a reference cohort (n=24) with normal knees and no history of injury examined by dGEMRIC at one occasion previously.ResultsThe healthy reference group had longer T1Gd values compared with the ACL-injured patients at follow-up both medially: 428±38 vs 363±61ms (P