Quantitative evaluation of hyaline cartilage disorders using flash sequence. II. Clinical applications.

In a prospective clinical study 24 normal volunteers and 106 patients with acute and chronic arthritis, osteoarthritis and post-traumatic alterations of the knee joints were examined. Using the parameters A and M 98 per cent of the pathologic cartilages and 74 per cent of the normal cartilages could be identified. In addition 78.5 per cent were correctly categorized in 5 cartilage classes. The A/M classification proved to be a fast and specific method for evaluation of cartilage disorders with special promise for follow-up examinations during therapy.