DEVELOPMENT OF IMPROVED MRI TECHNIQUES FOR CARTILAGE INJ

描述（改编自申请人的描述）：腕关节损伤导致 骨关节炎是导致年轻人残疾的主要原因。 骨关节炎是一种主要的疾病，无论是基于软骨损伤还是退行性变， 在美国的残疾原因。在过去的几十年里，许多 在理解软骨损伤和修复方面已经取得了进展。MRI，与 其独特非侵入性成像和表征软组织的能力， 在软骨成像中显示出希望。该提案的目标是发展 新的MRI技术来评估软骨损伤和修复的区域。超出 仅仅显示软骨损伤或修复区域的形态， 研究者将使用MRI来表征存在的组织类型， 这对预后和修复的成功有影响。 该提案包括三个部分。一是发展基础 磁共振成像技术。这将与第二部分并行发生， 即对接受全膝关节置换手术的患者的研究。这将 允许在广泛的范围内评估新的成像方法 退行性软骨病症通常存在于这些患者中。最后， 将进行一项研究，以测试这些新方法在评估和 表征接受过软骨修复治疗的患者的软骨 三年前。 MRI对软骨损伤和修复的评估有很大的希望。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。开发新技术来做到这一点 有可能快速评估这些新的 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.