Jiang Du1, Michael Carl2, Atsushi M. Takahashi2, Eric Diaz1, Christine B. Chung1, Eric Han2, Graeme M. Bydder1
1Radiology, University of California-San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA; 2Global Applied Science Laboratory, GE Healthcare Technologies, Menlo Park, CA, USA
Osteoarthritis is a multisystemic degenerative joint disease affecting not only articular cartilage, but also subchondral bone, synovium, the joint capsule and meniscii. Recently there has been increased interest in imaging and quantifying the impact of the disease on the meniscus. Meniscii appear low signal on the morphological images and accurate quantification may be challenging. Ultrashort TE (UTE) sequences with a TE of 8 s provide high signal intensity of the meniscus, and improved confidence in quantification. Here we describe a UTE sequence designed to image and quantify T1 and T2* of the meniscus on a clinical 3T scanner.