title: Multiecho IDEAL gradient-echo water-fat separation for rapid assessment of cartilage volume at 1.5 T: initial experience.
abstract: Institutional review board approval and informed consent were obtained for this HIPAA-compliant study. The purpose was to prospectively compare multiecho iterative decomposition of water and fat with echo asymmetry and least-squares estimation (IDEAL) gradient-echo (GRE) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with three-dimensional fat-suppressed (FS) spoiled GRE (SPGR) MR imaging to evaluate the articular cartilage of the knee. Six healthy volunteer and 10 cadaver knees were imaged at 1.5 T. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), SNR efficiency, and cartilage volume were measured. SNR and SNR efficiency were significantly higher with multiecho IDEAL GRE than with FS SPGR imaging (P < .031). Both methods produced equivalent cartilage volumes (overall concordance correlation coefficient, 0.998) with high precision and accuracy. The use of a cartilage phantom confirmed high accuracy in volume measurements and high reproducibility for both methods. Multiecho IDEAL GRE provides high signal intensity in cartilage and synovial fluid and is a promising technique for imaging articular cartilage of the knee.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Dr, S0-68B, Stanford, CA 94305-5105, USA.
authors.forename: Christina A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Wenmiao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Chand T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: John
authors.forename: Brian A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Hargreaves
authors.forename: Scott B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Reeder
authors.forename: Scott L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Delp
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Siston
authors.forename: Garry E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Gold
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000473:pathology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001834:Body Water; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000473:pathology*; D017352:Echo-Planar Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009929:Organ Size; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000473:pathology*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013382:Subtraction Technique; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D014867:Water