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Quantitative three‐dimensional ultrashort echo time cones imaging of the knee joint with motion correction
Author(s) -
Wu Mei,
Zhao Wei,
Wan Lidi,
Kakos Lena,
Li Liang,
Jerban Saeed,
Jang Hyungseok,
Chang Eric Y.,
Du Jiang,
Ma YaJun
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
nmr in biomedicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.278
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1099-1492
pISSN - 0952-3480
DOI - 10.1002/nbm.4214
Subject(s) - knee joint , physics , cartilage , magnetic resonance imaging , nuclear magnetic resonance , joint (building) , nuclear medicine , biomedical engineering , anatomy , medicine , radiology , architectural engineering , surgery , engineering
Knee degeneration involves all the major tissues in the joint. However, conventional MRI sequences can only detect signals from long T2 tissues such as the superficial cartilage, with little signal from the deep cartilage, menisci, ligaments, tendons and bone. It is highly desirable to develop new sequences that can detect signal from all major tissues in the knee. We aimed to develop a comprehensive quantitative three‐dimensional ultrashort echo time (3D UTE) cones imaging protocol for a truly “whole joint” evaluation of knee degeneration. The protocol included 3D UTE cones actual flip angle imaging (3D UTE‐Cones‐AFI) for T 1 mapping, multiecho UTE‐Cones with fat suppression for T 2 * mapping, UTE‐Cones with adiabatic T 1ρ (AdiabT 1ρ ) preparation for AdiabT 1ρ mapping, and UTE‐Cones magnetization transfer (UTE‐Cones‐MT) for MT ratio (MTR) and modeling of macromolecular proton fraction (f). An elastix registration technique was used to compensate for motion during scans. Quantitative data analyses were performed on the registered data. Three knee specimens and 15 volunteers were evaluated at 3 T. The elastix motion correction algorithm worked well in correcting motion artifacts associated with relatively long scan times. Much improved curve fitting was achieved for all UTE‐Cones biomarkers with greatly reduced root mean square errors. The averaged T 1 , T 2 *, AdiabT 1ρ , MTR and f for knee joint tissues of 15 healthy volunteers were reported. The 3D UTE‐Cones quantitative imaging techniques (ie, T 1 , T 2 *, AdiabT 1ρ , MTR and MT modeling) together with elastix motion correction provide robust volumetric measurement of relaxation times, MTR and f of both short and long T 2 tissues in the knee joint.