Cartilage imaging techniques: current clinical applications and state of the art imaging.

The high incidence of cartilage lesions, coupled with the recent advances for their surgical and nonsurgical treatment, have necessitated the development of techniques for accurate diagnosis and monitoring of these lesions. Although arthroscopy has been the standard for cartilage evaluation, magnetic resonance imaging has emerged as the imaging method of choice, allowing analysis of its infrastructure and surface abnormalities. The authors will focus on current clinical applications for articular cartilage analysis and advances and the future direction of the imaging of articular cartilage.