The effect of water content of articular cartilage on low-field magnetic resonance imaging

Osteoarthritis (OA) is mainly caused by the degeneration of articular cartilage in human joint. At early stage of OA, the biomechanical properties are caused by morphological changes of the cartilage. The MRI techniques were used to examine OA. However, these MRI techniques are performed at the progressive stage of OA to describe the morphological alterations of cartilage. The ability to detect the disease at its earliest stages is crucial as the treatment of OA is often depending on early detection of symptomatic patient. Therefore, it is essential to develop an assessment to detect the early stage of degenerative articular cartilage using low-field MRI scan image based on the water content of cartilage.