Role of MR arthrography with arthroscopic correlation in the evaluation of knee articular disorders

In this study we assessed the role of MR arthrography for the diagnosis of knee disorders. We compared MR arthrographic results with standard MR imaging and with arthroscopy. We performed an MRI examination with a 0.5 tesla machine on 32 patients having various knee disorders. We obtained images before and after intra-articular gadolinium-DTPA injection for each patient. The main objective of this study was to evaluate hyaline cartilage in patients suffering from gonarthrosis. The thickness and surface of the hyaline cartilage was determined by arthroscopic examination the week following MR imaging. We concluded that MR arthrography, although an invasive method, is superior in demonstrating hyaline cartilage pathologies in patients with gonarthrosis.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]