Richard Hodgson1, Robert Evans2,
Carole Burnett2, Andrew Grainger2, Philip O'Connor2,
Laura Coates, Philip Helliwell, Paul Emery, Dennis McGonagle, Matthew Robson3
1Leeds Musculoskeletal Biomedical
Research Unit, University of Leeds, Leeds, Yorks, United Kingdom; 2Chapel
Allerton Hospital, United Kingdom; 3Unversity of Oxford
The
Achilles tendon was imaged in symptomatic spondyloarthritis patients and
normal volunteers using a range of echo times from 0.07-14ms, with and
without intravenous contrast. Images of normal tendons showed anterior
reticular signal centred near the level of the superior calcaneum. Images of
spondyloarthritis patients acquired with TE=2ms showed the most abnormal
signal. Contrast enhancement was greatest on UTE images with TE=0.07ms.
Abnormal signal on TE=2ms images was more extensive than contrast enhancement
on UTE images. These results suggest 3D SPGR images with TE=2ms are useful
for detecting tendon abnormality in spondyloarthritis.