Evaluation of T1rho Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Diagnosis of Cartilage Lesions in Hips With Developmental Dysplasia

The start of arthritis can first be detected in certain molecules in the joint. Proteoglycan is a molecule that is important to cartilage structure, and is lost as arthritis develops. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is one of the best ways to image cartilage, and an investigational MRI technique that has shown great promise in detecting proteoglycan amounts is called T1-rho. In this study, patients with hip dysplasia will undergo this investigational MRI in addition to a well validated MRI method (called dGEMRIC) to see if T1-rho is as good as dGEMRIC at detecting cartilage damage. The dGEMRIC MRI requires an injection of a contrast agent, while the T1-rho MRI does not. If the T1-rho is shown to be as useful as the dGEMRIC method it can then be used to look at cartilage damage in the hip without having to have an injection.