Chondral fissure
Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data
Citation:
Feger J, Knipe H, Chondral fissure. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 30 Mar 2025) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-79313
rID:
79313
Article created:
Disclosures:
At the time the article was created Joachim Feger had no recorded disclosures.
View Joachim Feger's current disclosures
Last revised:
Disclosures:
At the time the article was last revised Henry Knipe had the following disclosures:
- Radiopaedia Events Pty Ltd, Speaker fees (past)
- Integral Diagnostics, Shareholder (ongoing)
- Micro-X Ltd, Shareholder (ongoing)
These were assessed during peer review and were determined to not be relevant to the changes that were made.
View Henry Knipe's current disclosures
Revisions:
5 times, by
2 contributors -
see full revision history and disclosures
Systems:
Tags:
Synonyms:
- Chondral cracks
- Chondral fibrillation
- Chondral fissuring
- Chondral cleavage
Chondral fissures are a type of chondral injury, more accurately cracks, cleavages or crevices of cartilage extending from the articular surface to the deeper chondral layers. They usually develop as a result of high compressive forces 1 and are often found in the patellar or trochlear cartilage.
Radiographic features
MRI
On MRI they show up as thin fluid-intense, chondral clefts and are best visible on T2 weighted, STIR or intermediate weighted images 1-3.
See also
References
- 1. Pathria M, Chung C, Resnick D. Acute and Stress-Related Injuries of Bone and Cartilage: Pertinent Anatomy, Basic Biomechanics, and Imaging Perspective. Radiology. 2016;280(1):21-38. doi:10.1148/radiol.16142305 - Pubmed
- 2. Gallo R & Mosher T. Imaging of Cartilage and Osteochondral Injuries. Clin Sports Med. 2013;32(3):477-505. doi:10.1016/j.csm.2013.03.006 - Pubmed
- 3. Bodelle B, Luboldt W, Wichmann J, Fischer S, Vogl T, Beeres M. Chondral Lesions in the Patellofemoral Joint in MRI: Intra-Individual Comparison of Short-Tau Inversion Recovery Sequence (STIR) with 2D Multiple-Echo Data Image Combination Sequence (MEDIC). Eur J Radiol Open. 2016;3:259-63. doi:10.1016/j.ejro.2016.10.004 - Pubmed
- 4. Markhardt B, Huang B, Spiker A, Chang E. Interpretation of Cartilage Damage at Routine Clinical MRI: How to Match Arthroscopic Findings. Radiographics. 2022;42(5):1457-73. doi:10.1148/rg.220051 - Pubmed
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