Characterization of grayscale of the MRI Images for articular cartilage

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a non-invasive potential imaging method to diagnose the cartilage disorder. Degeneration of the articular cartilage has been recognized as the main cause of osteoarthritis (OA). Normally OA refers to the end-stage which is already incurable. Therefore, in this study, a noninvasive method is develop to characterize the grayscale of the MRI images for articular cartilage. To test this, bovine’s humeral head cartilage samples (n=7) were selected as models. The primary findings from the results indicated that there was a significant difference in grayscale intensity of the MRI images on the articular cartilage. This could indicate that the composition in the articular cartilage could affect the grayscale of the articular cartilage. This results give a new perspective into the properties of the tissue.