Sodium MRI of human articular cartilage in vivo.

Preliminary results from in vivo sodium MRI of human patellar articular cartilage are presented. Sodium images generated of an in vitro bovine patella clearly distinguish the region of proteoglycan depletion from the region of healthy cartilage. This provides the first evidence that sodium imaging may be used to detect changes due to osteoarthritis in vivo. The process of optimizing imaging time and signal-to-noise ratio, as well as potential implications in the detection of osteoarthritic change, are discussed.