Mikko Johannes Nissi1, Jinjin Zhang1, Djaudat Idiyatullin1, Curtis Corum1, Cathy Carlson2, Ferenc Toth2, Miika Tapio Nieminen3, 4, Jutta Ellermann1
1CMRR - Dept. of Radiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States; 2Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States; 3Department of Medical Technology, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland; 4Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland
The involvement of the osteochondral interface in osteoarthritis is known, but perhaps less appreciated than warranted. Recent developments in ultrashort/zero-echo time imaging methods have enabled the MRI investigation of calcified and subchondral structures. In uTE studies, the bright line at the cartilage-bone interface has been associated with calcified layer of cartilage and deep layers of cartilage. In the present study, SWIFT was utilized to further study the origin of this feature. The results confirmed the earlier findings but also pointed to a possible contribution of signal pileup due to susceptibility differences between cartilage and bone or calcified cartilage.