Department of Applied Physics, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland ; Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland.
Department of Medical Physics, Imaging Centre, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland.
Cartilage. 2012 Oct;3(4):334-41. doi: 10.1177/1947603512447300.
We investigated the feasibility of delayed computed tomography (CT) arthrography for evaluation of human knee cartilage in vivo. Especially, the diffusion of contrast agent out of the joint space and the optimal time points for imaging were determined.
Two patients were imaged using delayed CT arthrography and delayed gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of cartilage (dGEMRIC) techniques.
Two hours after injection, the concentration of contrast agent in the joint space was still high enough (20% to 24.5% of the initial concentration at 0 minutes) to allow delayed CT arthrography. The half-life of the contrast agent in the joint space varied from 30 to 60 minutes. The contrast agent concentration in patellar and femoral cartilage reached the maximum after 30 and 60 minutes, respectively. According to dGEMRIC, there were no differences between patients. However, in delayed CT arthrography, the penetration of the contrast agent was higher in the osteoarthritic knee cartilage.
Contrast agent remained in the joint space long enough to enable delayed CT arthrography of cartilage. After 30 minutes, the normalized contrast agent concentration was higher in the cartilage of the osteoarthritic knee in comparison with the healthy knee. To conclude, delayed CT arthrography exhibited potential for use in the clinical evaluation of cartilage integrity.
我们研究了延迟 CT 关节造影术评估活体人膝关节软骨的可行性。特别是，确定了对比剂从关节腔扩散的情况以及成像的最佳时间点。
两名患者分别使用延迟 CT 关节造影和延迟钆增强磁共振成像软骨（dGEMRIC）技术进行成像。
注射后 2 小时，关节腔内的对比剂浓度仍然足够高（0 分钟时初始浓度的 20%至 24.5%），可以进行延迟 CT 关节造影。关节腔内对比剂的半衰期从 30 分钟到 60 分钟不等。髌股和股骨软骨中的对比剂浓度分别在 30 分钟和 60 分钟达到最大值。根据 dGEMRIC，患者之间没有差异。然而，在延迟 CT 关节造影中，骨关节炎膝关节软骨的对比剂渗透更高。
对比剂在关节腔内停留的时间足以进行软骨的延迟 CT 关节造影。30 分钟后，与健康膝关节相比，骨关节炎膝关节软骨中的归一化对比剂浓度更高。总之，延迟 CT 关节造影术在评估软骨完整性方面具有应用潜力。
