Research progress on new techniques in cartilage quantitative MRI

Abstract

Objective To explore research progress and application prospects of new MRI technologies in diagnosis and treatment of osteoarthritis. Methods A computer-based online search of Medline database was undertaken to identify the articles about cartilage injury/damage and cartilage quantitative MRI published in English from January 2004 to July 2014, with the key words ofCartilage injury/damage, osteoarthritis, T1ρmapping, Sodium MRI, magnetization transfer MRI, Chemical exchange saturation transfer, Ultrashort echo time MRI, DWI, DTI, Pharmacokinetic MRI. And the computer-based online search of CNKI database was also undertaken to identify relevant articles published in Chinese from January 2004 to July 2014 with the key words of软骨损伤,骨关节炎, T1ρ值,钠磁共振成像,磁化传递磁共振成像,化学交换依赖性饱和传递技术,扩散加权成像,扩散张量成像,药物代谢动力学磁共振成像. The first trial involved in 200 articles, and 86 articles of them referred to the experimental and clinical study of cartilage injury/damage and osteoarthritis. In which those had similar content and published on authority magazines in recent 5 years were preferred. Results Cartilage MRI and quantitative analysis have been one of the hot-point academic researchs. In recent years, with the enhancement of MRI hardware and software, the new technology has been applied to cartilage quantitative MRI analysis. In terms of early detection of cartilage damage and cartilage biochemical composition and vascular components, quantitative analysis of these new MRI technologies showed good application and research prospects, but there were still some inherent flaws. Conclusions With MR hardware and software upgrades, the development and application of new MRI sequences and deepening of theoretical studies using these new technologies, parameter values derived these new quantitative MRI analysis techniques may become MRI biomarkers in diagnosis and treatment of osteoarthritis in the future. Key words: Cartilage; Osteoarthritis; Magnetic resonance imaging; Parameter value