title: Cartilage morphology at 3.0T: assessment of three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging techniques.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare six new three-dimensional (3D) magnetic resonance (MR) methods for evaluating knee cartilage at 3.0T.
  
  
  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), multiecho 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 five osteoarthritis (OA) patients. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) were measured from the volunteers. Images of the five volunteers and the five 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 < 0.02). 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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  FSE-Cube and VIPR-bSSFP produce high image quality with accurate volume measurement of knee cartilage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA.
authors.forename: Christina A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kijowski
authors.forename: Lauren M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Shapiro
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Tuite
authors.forename: Kirkland W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Jessica L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Klaers
authors.forename: Walter F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Block
authors.forename: Scott B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Reeder
authors.forename: Garry E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Gold
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results