Cartilage morphology at 3.0T: Assessment of three‐dimensional magnetic resonance imaging techniques

Abstract

Purpose To compare 6 new three-dimensional (3D) magnetic resonance (MR) methods for evaluating knee cartilage at 3.0T. Materials and Methods We compared: Fast-spin-echo Cube (FSE-Cube), Vastly undersampled isotropic projection reconstruction balanced steady-state free precession (VIPR-bSSFP), Iterative decomposition of water and fat with echo asymmetry and least-squares estimation combined with spoiled gradient echo (IDEAL-SPGR) and gradient echo (IDEAL-GRASS), Multi-echo in steady-state acquisition (MENSA), and Coherent Oscillatory State Acquisition for Manipulation of Image Contrast (COSMIC). Five-minute sequences were performed twice on 10 healthy volunteers, and once on 5 osteoarthritis (OA) patients. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) were measured from the volunteers. Images of the 5 volunteers and the 5 OA patients were ranked on tissue contrast, articular surface clarity, reformat quality, and lesion conspicuity. FSE-Cube and VIPR-bSSFP were compared to IDEAL-SPGR for cartilage volume measurements. Results FSE-Cube had top rankings for lesion conspicuity, overall SNR, and CNR (P < .02). VIPR-bSSFP had top rankings in tissue contrast, and articular surface clarity. VIPR and FSE-Cube tied for best in reformatting ability. FSE-Cube and VIPR-bSSFP compared favorably to IDEAL-SPGR in accuracy and precision of cartilage volume measurements. Conclusion FSE-Cube and VIPR-bSSFP produce high image quality with accurate volume measurement of knee cartilage.

OARSI Clinical Trials Recommendations: Knee imaging in clinical trials in osteoarthritis

“…Threedimensional FSE sequences typically use frequency selective fatsaturation to suppress signal from adipose tissue 59,60 . FSE-Cube and SPACE have lower in-plane spatial resolution and greater image blurring when compared to other three-dimensional cartilage imaging sequences with similar acquisition times which may decrease the conspicuity of superficial cartilage lesions 61,62 . However, these sequences have highly versatile intermediate-weighted contrast which can be used to evaluate all joint structures.…”

Preliminary Study of 1.5-T MR Arthrography of the Shoulder With 3D Isotropic Intermediate-Weighted Turbo Spin Echo

“…This problem has been noted in previous research and may be accounted for in part by the long echo train and relatively long TE inherent in this sequence [10,[12][13][14]20]. Although the use of non-slice-selective refocusing pulses and variable flip angles with controlled signal evolution makes it possible to reduce the interecho spacing, the effective TE may still be long enough to introduce some blurring.…”

“…Other 3D TSE sequences have been found comparable to 2D TSE sequences with respect to both technical parameters and clinical performance in evaluation of the knee [5,12,20]. Some authors [13,14], however, have found these same sequences to suffer in subjective comparison with the 2D technique.…”

Rapid isotropic resolution cartilage assessment using radial alternating repetition time balanced steady‐state free‐precession imaging

“…The radial k ‐space trajectory allowed fat‐suppressed bSSFP images to be acquired using the ATR method with significantly higher resolution than a Cartesian trajectory. Radial‐ATR acquired higher isotropic resolution images of the knee joint at 3.0T in identical or shorter periods of time than Cartesian‐based fat‐suppressed 3D cartilage imaging sequences currently available on both GE Healthcare and Siemens MR platforms.…”