title: T2 mapping of human femorotibial cartilage with turbo mixed MR imaging at 1.5 T: feasibility.
abstract: The feasibility of a high-spatial-resolution technique for mapping T1 and T2 in articular cartilage in the human knee was evaluated. The technique, turbo mixed magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, is based on a pulse sequence in which inversion-recovery and spin-echo measurements are interleaved. The sequence was first validated in a phantom experiment in which T1 and T2 values obtained with an accepted spectroscopic technique were correlated with those obtained by using a clinical magnetic resonance imager with the turbo mixed technique. T2 maps were obtained with turbo mixed imaging in 25 volunteers (17 men, eight women; mean age, 30.8 years; range, 23-45 years). A high correlation (r = 0.99) was found between T1 and T2 values obtained at spectroscopy and those obtained at turbo mixed imaging. Relative differences in the range of cartilage relaxation times between the two techniques were less than 20%. Turbo mixed imaging in human volunteers showed T2 cartilage relaxation times that corresponded with previously published data. Turbo mixed imaging, thus, is feasible for T2 mapping of cartilage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University Hospitals Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. iwan.vanbreuseghem@uz.kuleuven.ac.be
authors.forename: Iwan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Van Breuseghem
authors.forename: Hilde T C
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Bosmans
authors.forename: Luce Vander
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Elst
authors.forename: Frederik
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Maes
authors.forename: Steven D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Pans
authors.forename: Peter P M A
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Brys
authors.forename: Eric A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Geusens
authors.forename: Guy J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Marchal
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002358:Cartilage, Articular; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging