Magnetic resonance imaging to assess knee cartilage repair tissue after microfracture of chondral defects.

A noninvasive method to assess the repair tissue produced by chondral defect treatment techniques has not been established. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) specialized sequences to predict the presence and quality of repair tissue of knee articular cartilage defects treated by microfracture. Nineteen recreational or high-level athletes underwent standard microfracture technique for 22 traumatic full-thickness chondral defects.