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Optimizing MR signal contrast of the temporomandibular joint disk
Author(s) -
Carl Michael,
Sanal Hatice T.,
Diaz Eric,
Du Jiang,
Girard Olivier,
Statum Sheronda,
Znamirowski Richard,
Chung Christine B.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of magnetic resonance imaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.563
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1522-2586
pISSN - 1053-1807
DOI - 10.1002/jmri.22810
Subject(s) - subtraction , sagittal plane , contrast (vision) , echo time , temporomandibular joint , flip angle , spin echo , magnetic resonance imaging , nuclear magnetic resonance , soft tissue , materials science , gradient echo , echo (communications protocol) , signal (programming language) , physics , biomedical engineering , nuclear medicine , computer science , mathematics , medicine , optics , anatomy , radiology , orthodontics , programming language , computer network , arithmetic
Abstract Purpose: To use a tissue specific algorithm to numerically optimize UTE sequence parameters to maximize contrast within temporomandibular joint (TMJ) donor tissue. Materials and Methods: A TMJ specimen tissue block was sectioned in a true sagittal plane and imaged at 3 Tesla (T) using UTE pulse sequences with dual echo subtraction. The MR tissue properties (PD, T 2 , T 2 *, and T 1 ) were measured and subsequently used to calculate the optimum sequences parameters (repetition time [TR], echo time [TE], and θ). Results: It was found that the main contrast available in the TMJ could be obtained from T 2 (or T 2 *) contrast. With the first echo time fixed at 8 μs and using TR = 200 ms, the optimum parameters were found to be: θ ≈ 60°, and TE2 ≈ 15 ms, when the second echo is acquired using a gradient echo and θ ≈ 120°, and TE2 ≈ 15 ms, when the second echo is acquired using a spin echo. Conclusion: Our results show that MR signal contrast can be optimized between tissues in a systematic manner. The MR contrast within the TMJ was successfully optimized with facile delineation between disc and soft tissues. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2011;. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.