Objective. Quantification of meniscus vascularity has been limited with previous techniques, and minimal data exist describing differential vascular zones in the skeletally immature meniscus. The objective of this study is to use quantitative contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to compare meniscal vascularity in neonatal specimens with adults. We hypothesized that the developing meniscus has greater and more uniform vascularity throughout all zones. Design. Ten fresh-frozen human cadaveric knees (5 neonatal, age 0-6 months; 5 adult, 34-67 years) underwent gadolinium-enhanced MRI using an established vascularity quantification protocol. Regions of interest corresponding to peripheral and central zones of the meniscus were identified on pre-contrast coronal images, and signal enhancement within the same regions (normalized against background tissue) was compared between pre- and post-contrast images. Results. The medial and lateral menisci had similar distribution of perfusion (45.8% ± 8.1% medial vs. 54.2% ± 8.1% lateral in neonatal knees; 50.6% ± 11.3% medial vs. 49.4% ± 11.3% lateral in adult knees, P = 0.47). Increased perfusion was demonstrated in the periphery compared with the central zone (2.3:1 in neonatal knees and 3.25:1 in adult knees, P = 0.31). Neonatal specimens demonstrated 6.0-fold greater overall post-contrast meniscal signal enhancement compared with adults (P < 0.0001), with the 0-month specimen demonstrating the greatest proportional signal enhancement. Conclusions. While blood flow to the periphery is greater than to central zones in all menisci, younger menisci receive proportionally greater overall blood flow compared to adults, including to the central zone, suggesting that the immature meniscus is a more biologically active tissue than its adult counterpart.

中文翻译：

---

新生儿与成人半月板血管增加：磁共振成像评估。

客观的。以前的技术限制了半月板血管分布的量化，并且存在描述骨骼未成熟半月板中不同血管区域的最少数据。本研究的目的是使用定量对比增强磁共振成像 (MRI) 来比较新生儿标本与成人的半月板血管分布。我们假设发育中的半月板在所有区域都有更大和更均匀的血管分布。设计。十个新鲜冷冻的人类尸体膝盖（5 个新生儿，0-6 个月；5 个成人，34-67 岁）使用已建立的血管分布量化方案进行了钆增强 MRI。在预对比冠状图像上识别出与半月板外围和中心区域相对应的感兴趣区域，在对比前后的图像之间比较相同区域内的信号增强（针对背景组织归一化）。结果。内侧和外侧半月板的灌注分布相似（新生儿膝关节内侧 45.8% ± 8.1% 与外侧 54.2% ± 8.1%；成人膝关节内侧 50.6% ± 11.3% 与外侧 49.4% ± 11.3%，P = 0.47 ）。与中心区相比，外周灌注增加（新生儿膝关节为 2.3:1，成人膝关节为 3.25:1，P = 0.31）。与成人相比，新生儿标本显示对比后半月板信号的整体增强 6.0 倍（P < 0.0001），其中 0 个月的标本显示出最大的比例信号增强。结论。虽然在所有半月板中流向外围的血流量都大于流向中央区域的血流量，