Alan C. Seifert1,
Chamith S. Rajapakse1, Mahdieh Bashoor-Zadeh1, Cheng Li1,
Yusuf A. Bhagat1, Alexander C. Wright1, Babette Zemel2,
Antonios Zavaliangos3, Felix W. Wehrli1
1Department
of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States; 2Division
of GI, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia,
Philadelphia, PA, United States; 3Department of Materials Science
and Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Phosphorus-31 is a major component of bone mineral, and can be imaged and potentially quantified using solid-state MRI. When combined with a measurement of bone matrix density, this may enable non-invasive differentiation of osteoporosis from osteomalacia. Bone mineral 31P density was quantified in three human bone specimens using a 31P ZTE-PETRA sequence and external reference samples. MRI-based density measurements were complemented by pQCT, and corrections for porosity and bone tissue volume were performed using CT images. Apparent 31P MRI and pQCT densities were lowest in the oldest bone, and became more similar after correction for porosity and bone tissue volume.