ARTICULAR-CARTILAGE EVALUATION IN OSTEOARTHRITIS OF THE HIP WITH MR-IMAGING UNDER CONTINUOUS LEG TRACTION

We conducted MR evaluations of acetabular and femoral cartilages in 27 hips of patients with osteoarthritis and 10 hips of normal volunteers by a fat-suppressed three-dimensional (3D) pulse sequence using a con tinuous leg traction method, and correlated the results with radiograp hic assessment, Normal condition of the acetabular and femoral cartila ges was clearly demonstrated in the normal volunteers. Grading of abno rmalities was possible for each cartilage in the patients with osteoar thritis. In early osteoarthritis graded by radiography, a high prevale nce of abnormalities was detected in the acetabular cartilage as compa red with the femoral cartilage, Despite the structural difficulty in e valuation of the hip joint cartilage, our MR imaging technique can pro vide information concerning a wide spectrum of cartilage abnormalities even in the identical radiographic stage, which will lead to improvem ent in the evaluation of disease progression and in surgical planning, (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.