Quantitatve arthroscopic ultrasonic assessment of articular cartilage the potential of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)

In this study we introduced the intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) as a potential arthroscopic tool for the quantitative assessment of articular cartilage. An IVUS system with a catheter-based probe (φ ≈ 1 mm) was used to measure the thickness and surface acoustical reflection amplitude of normal bovine patellar articular cartilages before and after degeneration induced by two enzyme treatments. Similar measurement was performed using another high frequency ultrasound system (Vevo) with a conventional hand-held probe and the results were compared between the two systems. The thickness measured using IVUS was highly correlated (r = 0.985, p < 0.001) with that obtained by Vevo. Surface acoustical reflection amplitude was found to be significantly reduced (p < 0.05) after two enzyme treatments. However, no significant change of thickness was found after enzyme treatments. The measurement results obtained from IVUS were confirmed with those obtained from Vevo. It is concluded that IVUS can be potentially used for the quantitative assessment of articular cartilage, with its ready-to-use arthroscopic feature.