ABSTRACT
A noninvasive method to assess the repair tissue produced by chondral defect treatment
techniques has not been established. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the
ability of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) specialized sequences to predict the presence
and quality of repair tissue of knee articular cartilage defects treated by microfracture.
Nineteen recreational or high-level athletes underwent standard microfracture technique
for 22 traumatic full-thickness chondral defects. Patients subsequently underwent
repeat arthroscopy for unrelated knee pathology. Magnetic resonance imaging studies
were obtained prior to the second-look arthroscopies and evaluated for the presence
of full-thickness articular cartilage defects and for the quality of repair tissue.
At arthroscopy, the quality and quantity of the repair tissue was assessed. Twenty-one
defects had 100% coverage with repair tissue, whereas 1 defect continued to have areas
with full-thickness cartilage loss. Magnetic resonance imaging had sensitivity and
specificity of 100% in predicting the presence of a full-thickness lesion after microfracture.
In determining whether the repair tissue was of good or poor quality, MRI had a sensitivity
of 80% and specificity of 82% using arthroscopy as the standard. Magnetic resonance
imaging using specialized sequences proved to be a satisfactory technique for evaluating
repair tissue in full-thickness traumatic defects treated by microfracture.
