Yongxain Qian1, Ashley A. Williams2,
Constance R. Chu2, Fernando E. Boada1
1MR Research Center, Radiology,
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States; 2Orthopaedic
Surgery, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
This
work presents new observations of T2* decay of multiple components on human
knee cartilage explants with ultrashort echo time (UTE) acquisitions on a
clinical 3T MRI scanner. Four types of T2* decay (mono-, bi-, tri-, and
non-exponential) in cartilage explants were detected. Multi-component T2* decays were mapped on a
pixel-by-pixel basis, permitting examination of the spatial distribution of
T2* relaxations in cartilage.