Motivation: Clinical evidence of symptomatic benefit concurrent with deep knee cartilage compositional improvement following ACL reconstruction (ACLR) is lacking. Goal(s): To evaluate relationships between deep cartilage UTE-T2* changes and concurrent symptomatic changes following ACLR. Approach: UTE-T2* maps and patient reported outcomes were acquired at 7-weeks and again 2-years after ACLR in 48 patients. Smallest detectable UTE-T2* difference was calculated from test-retest UTE-T2* maps in 10 uninjured controls. Results: On average, UTE-T2* in deep femoral cartilage increased over 2 years following ACLR, and patients reported substantial symptomatic improvements over this time. Greater reductions in patellar cartilage UTE-T2* associated with greater improvements in patients' knee pain. Impact: UTE-T2* qMRI evaluation shows that longitudinal changes to deep knee cartilage composition associate with concurrent clinically meaningful improvements in patient reported knee pain following ACL reconstruction.
Williams et al. (Tue,) studied this question.