EFFECTS OF SCAPHOLUNATE LIGAMENT INJURY AND SURGICAL REPAIR ON WRIST CARTILAGE T2 RELAXATION TIME

Abstract

Purpose: Our objective was to investigate the effects of injury and surgical repair on T2 relaxation time, as a non-invasive biomarker of changes in the biophysical and biochemical status of the cartilage in the wrist. Methods: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed using 3T scanners. Nine subjects attended scan sessions for both their injured wrist and contralateral (normal) wrist pre-operation and post-operation. T2 relaxation times were individually calculated by each cartilage surface of the radioscaphoid, radiolunate, capitoscaphoid and capitolunate articulations. Results: T2 relaxation times were not found to vary significantly according to injury state. Overall, findings were not dependent on which cartilage surface was analyzed. Pre-operative and post-operative normal wrist T2 values were not significantly different. Conclusions: Articular cartilage changes due to scapholunate dissociation do not appear to result in changes of T2 relaxation times measured by MRI. The lack of significant findings was possibly a result of thin wrist cartilage and limited image resolution. Further development of MRI capabilities may allow for more accurate determination of the time progression of T2 changes with injury (if any) and/or establish the change in T2 values after surgery.