Lindsey A. Crowe1, Frank Tobalem1, Wolfgang Wirth2, Azza Gramoun1, Benedicte M A Delattre1, Kerstin Grosdemange1, Jatuporn Salaklang3, Anthony Redjem3, Alke Petri-Fink
1Faculty of Medicine/Department of Radiology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; 2Institute of Anatomy & Musculoskeletal Research, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria; 3Adolphe Merkle Institute, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland; 4Powder Technology Laboratory, Ecole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
Nanoparticle technology, including SPIONs, is of emerging importance for monitoring onset, progression and treatment of inflammatory diseases such as arthritis and drives quantitative imaging. Conventional signal loss in SPION-containing tissues saturate at medium concentrations and show non-linear/non-proportional intensity/concentration profiles due to competing T1/T2 effects. Intra-articular injected SPIONs were compared to phantom calibrations using dUTE (difference-Ultrashort TE) with positive, unambiguous signal characteristics and monotonic increasing concentration response over a wide range in a phantom and a rat model, opening possibilities for quantification. A further advantage of dUTE is the distinction of synovial iron signal intensity from tissues (muscle, bone) and noise.