New insights into the pathophysialagy of osteaarthritis (OA) coupled with advances inmolecular engineering and drug discovery have spawned a host of new treatment strategiesand created a demand for better ways of monitoring Disease progression and treatmentresponse in patients with OA and other disorders affecting articular cartilage. MRl has drawn considerable attentionregard. Most of the rliniral application of MRl thus far，however，has been in the management of surgical cartilagetechniques，such as autologous asteochandral transplantation and autologaus chondrocyte implantation.