Imaging Studies in Surgically Proven Chondromalacia Patellae

Accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging, magnetic resonance arthrography and computed tomography for the detection of chondral lesions of the knee

“…The grading for chondral lesions was described as having been performed using two difference systems. Sixteen studies assessed chondral lesions using a 0–4 grading system as suggested by Shahriaree [43], where 0 equated homogenous intermediate signal intensity and cartilage normal; 1 focal thickening of cartilage with smooth surface or cartilage loss/softening of cartilage; 2 equating to focal bulging, fissuring, blister lesions or shallow ulceration with mild surface irregularities; grade 3 equates to surface irregularities with deep ulceration or fibrillation not extending to subchondral bone; and grade 4 equating to cartilage defect with exposure of subchondral bone [3, 4, 9, 10, 14, 15, 17, 21, 25, 28, 35, 42, 44, 48, 49, 52]. Nine studies assessed grade of lesion using a 0–3 point scale as recommended by Noyes and Stabler [31], where grade 0 was normal cartilage; grade 1 was assigned to cartilage with minor surface irregularities with early fissuring but no loss of thickness; grade 2 signified cartilage thinning with deep fissures but no full‐thickness loss; and grade 3 equated to cartilage with at least one area of full‐thickness loss [1, 16, 19, 22, 29, 37, 38, 45, 46].…”

Magnetic resonance imaging is able to detect patellofemoral focal cartilage injuries: a systematic review with meta-analysis

“…Database and hand searches yielded non‐duplicate 812 records, of which 79 full‐text articles were assessed for inclusion. A total of 45 original articles [7, 10–16, 18–21, 23, 29, 30, 34–36, 38–44, 46–50, 52–58, 60–66, 68] fulfilled the eligibility criteria and were included in this systematic review (Fig. 1).…”