Figure 1

Cartilage mineralization and clinical relationships. Contact radiography (DCR) of tangential cut cartilage and slab specimens revealed mineralization in all articular cartilage specimens. The mean area of mineralization was 1.25% (± 0.14 SE, range 0.1-4.6%) for the tangential cut cartilage and 3.69% (± 0.31 SE, range 0.3-12.1) for the slab specimens. Scatter plots show a highly significant inverse correlation between HHS score and mean cartilage calcification for both the tangential cut articular cartilage and the slab specimens (A and B) (p < 0.01, p = 0.01). There was no correlation between patient age and the mean area of cartilage mineralization (C and D) (p = 0.342, p = 0.070).