ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the correlation between T2* relaxation time and the pathological changes in the knee joint of patients with osteoarthritis (OA) and analyze the changes of T2* relaxation time in early cartilage injury.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixty-two patients with OA in different phases underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the knee and the articular cartilage T2* relaxation time was recorded, with 20 young healthy volunteers as the control group.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Patients with mild OA showed significantly different T2* relaxation time for most of the articular cartilage from that of the healthy volunteers (P<0.05), but no such difference was found between serious OA group and the healthy volunteers. The change of T2* relaxation time of the cartilage was also associated with age, weight and body height, and the potential effects of other factors could not be excluded.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The articular cartilage shows no obvious morphological changes in early OA of the knee, a stage characterized mostly by alterations of the tissue structure and compositions. Cartilage pathologies can be the most obvious on the weight-bearing surface of the medial condyle of the femur or in the patella. T2* relaxation time measurement can be helpful in the detection of early cartilage pathologies.</p>
