Abstract: During the latest researches on knee ostarthritis,it is discovered that before the morphology changes of cartilage,there were changes of the content of proteoglycan and water and changes of alinement of surface layer collagen fibers in cartilage matrix.By the new technologies of DWI,proton density mapping image,²³Na MRI,T₂Mapping image and so on,not only the pathological changes of cartilage can be disclosed,the component changes of cartilage matrix can also be detected.Accompany with the progress in the technology of software and hardware,MRI will have more and more prospects in early diagnosis and therapeutic effect evaluation of knee ostarthritis.

Key words: knee ostarthritis, cartilage matrix, magnetic resonance imaging(MRI), review