Fat‐suppressed T2 mapping of femoral cartilage in the porcine knee joint: A comparison with conventional T2 mapping. Issue 4 (16th August 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ryu, Young Jin; Hong, Sung Hwan; Kim, Hyeonjin; Choi, Ja‐Young; Yoo, Hye Jin; Kang, Yusuhn; Park, Sang Joon; Kang, Heung Sik
• Is Part Of: Journal of magnetic resonance imaging. Volume 45:Issue 4(2017)
• Page Start: 1076
• Page End: 1081
• Publication Date: 2016-08-16
• Subjects: fat suppression -- T2 mapping -- articular cartilage -- chemical shift artifact; Magnetic resonance imaging -- Periodicals; 616
• DOI: 10.1002/jmri.25430
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1053-1807

Abstract

Abstract : Purpose: To investigate the effect of fat suppression on T 2 mapping of the articular cartilage in the porcine knee joint using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Materials and Methods: Eleven porcine knee joints were harvested en bloc with intact capsules. We performed T 2 mapping of the articular cartilage in the medial femoral condyle at 3T either with (fat‐suppressed T 2 mapping) or without (conventional T 2 mapping) fat suppression in the sagittal plane under two frequency‐encoding directions: from superior to inferior (SI) and inferior to superior (IS). Two observers measured the T 2 values of the medial femoral condyle cartilage in four regions: in the anterior oblique, central horizontal, posterior oblique, and posterior vertical portions. We evaluated reproducibility of the fat‐suppressed and conventional T 2 mapping by changing the frequency‐encoding direction. Results: The mean T 2 values of fat‐suppressed T 2 mapping were significantly lower than those of conventional T 2 mapping for five of eight comparisons ( P < 0.017). The mean T 2 values between fat‐suppressed T 2 ‐SI and fat‐suppressed T 2 ‐IS did not differ significantly in any region ( P = 0.077–0.873). However, the mean T 2 values of conventional T 2 ‐SI were significantly lower compared with conventional T 2 ‐IS in three of the regions ( P < 0.05). The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) between the two fat‐suppressed T 2 maps was higher than the ICC between the two conventional T 2 maps (0.276–0.800 vs. –0.032–0.455) for three regions. Conclusion: Compared with conventional T 2 mapping, fat‐suppressed T 2 mapping provides lower T 2 values of the articular cartilage and more reproducible results for the porcine knee joint. Level of Evidence: 2 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2017;45:1076–1081