Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging Using T2 Mapping Sequence in Assessment of Osteochondral Lesions of the Ankle Joint

Background: Osteochondral lesions (OCLs) are a collection of lesions that affect both the articular hyaline cartilage and the subchondral bone plate. Objectives: This study was aimed to analyse the use of advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using T2 mapping sequence in evaluating OCLs of the ankle joint. Patients and Methods: This study was carried out on 30 cases; were divided in to two groups: patients’ group (n=20): clinically presented with ankle pain 13 females and 7 males. Control group (n=10): five males and five females. All patients were subjected to simultaneous measurement by MRI. Results: The number of diagnoses more than number of patients because there is overlap of diagnosis. By using routine MRI & T2 Mapping at the ankle joint, we found that 14 cases have OCLs, sex cases were diagnosed as grade 1a, four cases were diagnosed as grade 2a, and four cases were diagnosed as grade 3a. Multiple rows were placed at regions of interest of the ankle articular cartilage; we found that T2 values were significantly increased in our cases in comparison to the control group. Conclusion: Intact articular cartilage is characterized by a normal signal intensity in various pulse sequences. In T2 maps, normal ankle articular cartilage at different locations often has a value below 60 milliseconds. An assessment was conducted to compare the effectiveness of MRI alone against MRI using a T2 mapping sequence. There is a considerable level of agreement between using merely MRI and using MRI with a T2 mapping sequence.