CHONDROMALACIA PATELLAE - FAT-SUPPRESSED MR-IMAGING

PURPOSE: To evaluate the accuracy of fat-suppressed magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in diagnosing chondromalacia patellae. MATERIALS AND MET HODS: Seventy-one patients underwent fat-suppressed MR imaging and art hroscopy of the patellofemoral compartment. Findings were classified a s early or advanced chondromalacia or as normal and were correlated wi th arthroscopic findings. RESULTS: Early and advanced stages of chondr omalacia patellae were reliably detected, with positive predictive val ues of 85% and 92%, respectively. Specificity in early stages was 94% and in late stages was 98%. However, the overall accuracies did not di ffer substantially from those reported in studies that did not use fat -suppressed imaging. CONCLUSION: Axial, fat-suppressed MR imaging accu rately depicts changes caused by chondromalacia patellae. Early stages can be seen as intrasubstance changes of increased signal intensity. Results of this study suggest a high degree of specificity in excludin g both early and advanced changes.