Integration of accelerated MRI and post-processing software: a promising method for studies of knee osteoarthritis.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a widely used imaging modality for studies of knee osteoarthritis (OA). Compared to radiography, MRI offers exceptional soft tissue imaging and true three-dimensional (3D) visualization. However, MRI is expensive both due to the cost of acquisition and evaluation of the images. The goal of our study is to develop a new method to address the cost of MRI by combining innovative acquisition methods and automated post-processing software.



Ten healthy volunteers were scanned with three different MRI protocols: A standard 3D dual-echo steady state (DESS) pulse sequence, an accelerated DESS (DESSAcc), acquired at approximately half the time compared to DESS, and a multi-echo time DESS (DESSMTE), which is capable of producing measurements of T2 relaxation time. A software tool was used to measure cartilage volume. Accuracy was quantified by comparing DESS to DESSAccand DESSMTEand precision was measured using repeat readings and acquisitions. T2 precision was determined using duplicate DESSMTEacquisitions. Intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs), root-mean square standard deviation (RMSSD), and the coefficient of variation (CoV) were used to quantify accuracy and precision.



The accuracies of DESSAccand DESSMTEwere CoV = 3.7% and CoV = 6.6% respectively, while precision was 3.8%, 3.0%, and 3.1% for DESS, DESSAccand DESSMTE. T2 repositioning precision was 5.8%.



The results demonstrate that accurate and precise quantification of cartilage volume is possible using a combination of substantially faster MRI acquisition and post-processing software. Precise measurements of cartilage T2 and volume can be made using the same acquisition.
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: jduryea@bwh.harvard.edu.
J
J
Duryea
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
C
C
Cheng
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
L F
LF
Schaefer
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
S
S
Smith
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
B
B
Madore
D002358:Cartilage, Articular; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012984:Software
Accelerated imaging; Cartilage; Knee; Magnetic resonance imaging; Osteoarthritis; Segmentation software