Validation of bone marrow fat quantification in the presence of trabecular bone using MRI.

Background: To validate six-echo, chemical-shift based MRI with T2 * correction for the quantification of bone marrow fat content in the presence of trabecular bone.

Methods: Ten bone phantoms were made using trabecular bone cores extracted from the distal femur and proximal tibia of 20 human cadaveric knees. Bone marrow was removed from the cores and the marrow spaces were filled with water-fat gelatin to mimic bone marrow of known fat fractions.