3D adiabatic T prepared ultrashort echo time cones sequence for whole knee imaging.

Purpose: To develop a 3D adiabatic T prepared ultrashort echo time cones (3D AdiabT UTE-Cones) sequence for whole knee imaging on a clinical 3T scanner.

Methods: A train of adiabatic full passage pulses were used for spin locking, followed by time-efficient multispoke UTE acquisition to detect signals from both short and long T tissues in the whole knee joint. A modified signal model was proposed for multispoke UTE data fitting. The feasibility of this 3D AdiabT UTE-Cones technique was demonstrated through numerical simulation, phantom, and ex vivo knee sample studies. The 3D AdiabT UTE-Cones technique was then applied to 6 in vivo knee joints of healthy volunteers to measure T values of quadriceps tendon, patellar tendon, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), posterior cruciate ligament (PCL), meniscus, patellar cartilage, and muscle.

Results: Numerical simulation, phantom and ex vivo knee sample studies demonstrated the feasibility of whole knee imaging using the proposed multispoke 3D AdiabT UTE-Cones sequence. The healthy volunteer knee study demonstrated an averaged T of 13.9 ± 0.7 ms for the quadriceps tendon, 9.7 ± 0.8 ms for the patellar tendon, 34.9 ± 2.8 ms for the ACL, 21.6 ± 1.4 ms for the PCL, 22.5 ± 1.9 ms for the meniscus, 44.5 ± 2.4 ms for the patellar cartilage, and 43.2 ± 1.1 ms for the muscle.

Conclusion: The 3D AdiabT UTE-Cones sequence allows volumetric T assessment of both short and long T tissues in the knee joint on a clinical 3T scanner.