Figure 2. H&E (haemotoxylin and eosin) stain of hyaline cartilage (left) demonstrating chondrocytes surrounded by ground substance. Hyaline cartilage stained to show collagen fibrils (right) illustrating a zonal anatomy.
Figure 5. Conventional lateral radiograph of a knee. There is an osteochondral fracture involving the lateral femoral condyle (large arrow) with a separate osteochondral body within the suprapatellar pouch (small arrow).
Figure 6. (a) Conventional lateral radiograph of a knee in a patient with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. There is an osteochondral defect on the lateral femoral condyle (arrow). A joint effusion is also present. (b) Sagittal proton density weighted (repetition time/echo time 3680/15 ms) MRI of the same patient demonstrating the osteochondral defect (arrow).
Figure 7. (a) Coronal STIR (repetition time (TR)/echo time (TE) 4655/30 ms) MRI of a knee. There is an osteochondral defect with surrounding bone marrow oedema (arrow). (b) Coronal proton density weighted (TR/TE 3680/15 ms) MRI of the same patient again demonstrating the osteochondral defect (arrow).
Figure 8. Conventional radiograph of a hand in a patient with acromegaly. There is increased joint space width at the metacarpophalangeal and interphalangeal joints.
Figure 10. Isotope bone scan of a knee demonstrating increased uptake at the margin of the medial femorotibial compartment with corresponding conventional radiograph (below).
Figure 11. CT arthrogram of the patellofemoral joint. An open cartilage defect is seen on the patella which fills with intra-articular contrast medium. There is also thinning of the hyaline cartilage on the medial patellar facet (arrow).
Figure 12. High resolution imaging of the normal knee joint. Sagittal fat suppressed 3D gradient echo image (repetition time/echo time 50/11 ms) was obtained at a field strength of 4.7 T and shows vertical striations within hyaline cartilage. These are most prominent in weight-bearing areas.
Figure 13. Value of 3D gradient echo imaging with fat suppression for imaging hyaline cartilage. (a) Sagittal orientation and (b) axial orientation of the patellofemoral joint using 3D gradient echo FLASH sequence with fat suppression (repetition time/echo time 47/11 ms, flip angle 40°). Hyaline cartilage is hyperintense whilst all other structures are hypointense.
Figure 14. Axial 3D gradient echo FLASH (repetition time/echo time 47/11 ms, flip angle 40°) MRI of the patellofemoral joint demonstrating thinning of the hyaline cartilage on the medial patellar facet (arrow).
