@Article{, title={Assessment of Articular Cartilage of Knee Joint by Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Comparison with Arthroscopy of the Knee}, author={Sinan Urabee Ibrahim*, Halah Qays Musa, Atheer Adnan Fadhil}, journal={Iraqi Postgraduate Medical Journal المجلة العراقية للاختصاصات الطبية}, volume={19}, number={2}, pages={86-96}, year={2020}, abstract={ABSTRACT:BACKGROUND:The use of new and faster MRI techniques with higher resolution, contrast and greater diagnosticaccuracy, make the MRI as an excellent method for evaluating articular cartilage disorders.OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of different sequences of MRI in diagnosing and gradingdamage of articular cartilage of the knee joint.PATIENTS AND METHODS:From March 2017 to Feb. 2018 ,40 Patients (50 knees) with age ranging from (34-67 years) MRIevaluation of the knee articular cartilage was performed using a 1.5T MRI scanner . Arthroscopicsurgery was done for them after a maximum delay of 2 months from the MRI study, Employingthe outer bridge grading system, the MRI grade 0, I, II, III and IV lesions were compared tothe arthroscopic results. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were evaluated for each sequence.RESULTS:Of the 40 patients, 22 (55%) were females and 18 (45%) were males. Of 300 joint surfaces135(45%) grade 0 ,16(5.3%) grade I , 36(12%) grade II , 85(28%) grade III and 28(9.3%) grade IVby arthroscopy, when comparing to MRI findings, there was good and very good Kappa values(0.759-0.818). Chondral lesions were undergraded by MRI in (13%) and overgraded in (6.6%),the sensitivity of MRI was ranging between (60-92%), the specificity ranging (68.7-88.8%) andthe accuracy (70-86%) .Results demonstrated poor sensitivity of MRI in detecting grade I(33.3%) &grade II(35.8%) and better sensitivity in detecting grade III(85.5%) & grade IV(76.4%). IW-FS-FSEsequence showed the highest sensitivity (88%) & accuracy (97%), followed by FS-PD witha sensitivity of (85%) and accuracy (95%).CONCLUSION:MRI is an adequately sensitive and specific diagnostic tool for identifying the presence of articulardamage, but still not reliably described as Arthroscopy. Among the 2D and 3D GRE images the bestdiagnostic evaluation of cartilage disorders was obtained by the IW-FS-FSE sequence . The PDsequence can be used to evaluate knee cartilage, the dynamic range and the findings of subchondralbone disorders are increased by fat suppression during imaging techniques so that it is important incartilage disorders interpretation.

} }