Effect of gender on in vivo cartilage magnetic resonance imaging T2 mapping
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Updated: Aug 26, 2026
Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Skeletal Muscle Disease
Published on: December 18, 2016
Timothy J Mosher1, Christopher M Collins, Harvey E Smith
1Penn State Center for NMR Research, Department of Radiology, Penn State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033, USA. tmosher@psu.edu
Purpose:
To determine if gender is a significant variable for in vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) T2-mapping of knee articular cartilage in young asymptomatic volunteers.
Materials And Methods:
Cartilage MRI T2 mapping was performed in a young healthy population consisting of seven male and 10 female volunteers, 22 to 29 years of age. High-resolution in vivo T2 maps were obtained of patellar, tibial, and weight-bearing femoral articular cartilage. Spatial dependency of cartilage T2 between groups was evaluated through a comparison of cartilage T2 as a function of normalized distance from bone.
Results:
Bulk cartilage T2 values were similar at all three anatomic sites, and between male and female volunteers. All volunteers demonstrated similar spatial variation in cartilage MRI T2 values, with a minimum located in the radial zone and increasing T2 values toward the articular surface. There was no difference in spatial dependency of cartilage T2 between males and females.
Conclusion:
In young, healthy volunteers, the magnitude and spatial dependency of cartilage T2 does not differ with gender.
