Modification of longitudinal relaxation time (T1) as a biomarker of patellar cartilage degeneration

Abstract Objectives To study the viability of longitudinal relaxation time ( T1 ) of patellar cartilage as a biomarker of the degree of degeneration. Material and methods We included 15 subjects classified into three groups according to clinical criteria (pain, functional limitation, and duration of symptoms) and imaging criteria as follows: (a) normal (3 men, 2 women; age 30 ± 14 years), (b) with initial degeneration of the patellar cartilage (3 men, 2 women; age 30 ± 6 years), or (c) with advanced degeneration (3 men, 2 women; age 57 ± 10 years). All underwent MRI examination using special echo-gradient sequences to segment the cartilage and calculate the T1 maps. We selected the entire c…