DEVELOPMENT OF IMPROVED MRI TECHNIQUES FOR CARTILAGE INJ

描述(改编自申请者的描述)：软骨损伤 骨性关节炎是导致年轻人残疾的主要原因。 以软骨损伤或退变为基础的骨关节炎是一种主要的 美国的残疾原因。在过去的几十年里，很多 对软骨损伤和修复的认识已经取得了进展。磁共振成像，带 其独特的非侵入性成像和表征软组织的能力， 在软骨成像方面显示出了希望。这项提议的目标是发展 用于评估软骨损伤和修复区域的新核磁共振技术。超越 简单地展示软骨损伤或修复区域的形态， 研究人员将使用核磁共振成像来表征存在的组织类型， 这对修复的预后和成功有一定的影响。 该提案由三部分组成。一是基础设施的发展 磁共振成像技术。这将与第二组件并行发生， 即对接受全膝关节置换手术的患者进行的研究。这将是 允许在广泛的范围内评估新的成像方法 软骨退行性病变通常出现在这类患者身上。最后， 将进行一项研究，以测试这些新方法在评估和 接受过软骨修复治疗的患者的软骨特征 三年前。 MRI在评估软骨损伤和修复方面有很大的前景。新兴 软骨损伤的治疗需要准确的、非侵入性的评估 修复组织形态和内容物。开发新技术来实现这一点 有可能允许快速评估这些新的 治疗。

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from Applicant's Description): Cartilage injury leading to osteoarthritis is a leading cause of disability in young people. Osteoarthritis, either based on cartilage injury or degeneration, is a leading cause of disability in the United States. Over the last several decades, much progress has been made in understanding cartilage injury and repair. MRI, with its unique ability to non-invasively image and characterize soft tissue, has shown promise in imaging cartilage. The goal of this proposal is to develop new MRI techniques to assess areas of cartilage damage and repair. Beyond simply demonstrating the morphology of an area of cartilage damage or repair, the investigators will use MRI to characterize the type of tissue present, which has implications about the prognosis and success of the repair. The proposal consists of three components. One is the development of the basic MR imaging technology. This will occur in parallel with the second component, i.e. studies of patients undergoing total knee replacement surgery. This will allow the assessment of the new imaging methods on the wide range of degenerative cartilage conditions typically present in such patients. Finally, a study will be performed to test these new methods in assessing and characterizing cartilage in patients who have had cartilage repair therapy three years previously. MRI holds much promise for assessment of cartilage injury and repair. Emerging therapies for cartilage injury require accurate, non-invasive assessment of repair tissue morphology and content. Development of new techniques to do this has the potential to allow rapid assessment of the effectiveness of these new therapies.