Is the body-coil at 3 Tesla feasible for the MRI evaluation of the painful knee? A comparative study.
The purpose of this study was to compare the in-built body coil of the 3.0-Tesla (T) scanner with a dedicated surface coil of a 1.5 T system regarding knee imaging. We performed an intraindividual prospective clinical trial on 17 patients with knee pain using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 1.5 and 3.0 T systems equipped with identical gradient systems. Proton-density-weighted turbo spin echo sequences with the same spatial resolution and comparable contrast parameters were used. A quantitative measurement of signal to noise ratio (SNR), relative contrast (RC) and contrast to noise ratio (CNR) between muscle and bone marrow was performed, followed by a qualitative assessment of anatomic/pathologic structures and the extent of artefacts. At 3.0 T, 30 lesions (91%) compared to 33 lesions at 1.5 T were detected. The SNR/CNR/RC were moderately reduced at 3.0 T versus 1.5 T (muscle 42 vs 47 and bone 83 vs 112/46 vs 69/0.33 vs 0.43). Motion artefacts from the pulsating popliteal artery were significantly increased at 3.0 T. A visible and measurable signal loss occurred at 3.0 T using the built-in body coil compared with the dedicated 1.5 T knee coil, but nearly all clinically important information could be obtained.
Lutterbey
G
G
Department of Radiology, University of Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Strasse 25, 53105 Bonn, Germany. goetz.lutterbey@ukb.uni-bonn.de
Behrends
K
K
Falkenhausen
M V
MV
Wattjes
M P
MP
Morakkabati
N
N
Gieseke
J
J
Schild
H
H
D000328:Adult; D016477:Artifacts; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000473:pathology; D017352:Echo-Planar Imaging; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000473:pathology*; D008023:Ligaments, Articular / Q000473:pathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000473:pathology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011522:Protons
D011522:Protons