Three-dimensional adiabatic inversion recovery prepared ultrashort echo time cones (3D IR-UTE-Cones) imaging of cortical bone in the hip.

Purpose: We present three-dimensional adiabatic inversion recovery prepared ultrashort echo time Cones (3D IR-UTE-Cones) imaging of cortical bone in the hip of healthy volunteers using a clinical 3T scanner.

Methods: A 3D IR-UTE-Cones sequence, based on a short pulse excitation followed by a 3D Cones trajectory, with a nominal TE of 32μs, was employed for high contrast morphological imaging of cortical bone in the hip of heathy volunteers. Signals from soft tissues such as muscle and marrow fat were suppressed via adiabatic inversion and signal nulling. T value of the cortical bone was also calculated based on 3D IR-UTE-Cones acquisitions with a series of TEs ranging from 0.032 to 0.8ms. A total of four healthy volunteers were recruited for this study. Average T values and the standard deviation for four regions of interests (ROIs) at the greater trochanter, the femoral neck, the femoral head and the lesser trochanter were calculated.

Results: The 3D IR-UTE-Cones sequence provided efficient suppression of soft tissues with excellent image contrast for cortical bone visualization in all volunteer hips. Exponential single component decay was observed for all ROIs, with averaged T values ranging from 0.33 to 0.45ms, largely consistent with previously reported T values of cortical bone in the tibial midshaft.

Conclusions: The 3D IR-UTE-Cones sequence allows in vivo volumetric imaging and quantitative T measurement of cortical bone in the hip using a clinical 3T scanner.