An in vitro comparative study of T2 and T2 mappings of human articular cartilage at 3-Tesla MRI using histology as the standard of reference

Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlations between T2 value, T2* value, and histological grades of degenerated human articular cartilage. Materials and methods T2 mapping and T2* mapping of nine tibial osteochondral specimens were obtained using a 3-T MRI after total knee arthroplasty. A total of 94 ROIs were analyzed. Histological grades were assessed using the David–Vaudey scale. Spearman’s rho correlation analysis and Pearson’s correlation analysis were performed. Results The mean relaxation values in T2 map with different histological grades (0, 1, 2) of the cartilage were 51.9 ± 9.2 ms, 55.8 ± 12.8 ms, and 59.6 ± 10.2 ms, respectively. The mean relaxation values in T2* map with different histological grades (0, 1, 2) of the cartilage were 20.3 ± 10.3 ms, 21.1 ± 12.4 ms, and 15.4 ± 8.5 ms, respectively. Spearman’s rho correlation analysis confirmed a positive correlation between T2 value and histological grade (ρ = 0.313, p