Automated analysis of immediate reliability of T2 and T2* relaxation times of hip joint cartilage from 3 T MR examinations.

Background: Magnetic resonance (MR) T2 and T2* mapping sequences allow in vivo quantification of biochemical characteristics within joint cartilage of relevance to clinical assessment of conditions such as hip osteoarthritis (OA).

Purpose: To evaluate an automated immediate reliability analysis of T2 and T2* mapping from MR examinations of hip joint cartilage using a bone and cartilage segmentation pipeline based around focused shape modelling.

Study Type: Technical validation.

Subjects: 17 asymptomatic volunteers (M: F 7:10, aged 22-47 years, mass 50-90 kg, height 163-189 cm) underwent unilateral hip joint MR examinations. Automated analysis of cartilage T2 and T2* data immediate reliability was evaluated in 9 subjects (M: F 4: 5) for each sequence.

Field Strength/sequence: A 3 T MR system with a body matrix flex-coil was used to acquire images with the following sequences: T2 weighted 3D-trueFast Imaging with Steady-State Precession (water excitation; 10.18 ms repetition time (TR); 4.3 ms echo time (TE); Voxel Size (VS): 0.625 × 0.625 × 0.65 mm; 160 mm field of view (FOV); Flip Angle (FA): 30 degrees; Pixel Bandwidth (PB): 140 Hz/pixel); a multi-echo spin echo (MESE) T2 mapping sequence (TR/TE: 2080/18-90 ms (5 echoes); VS: 4 × 0.78 × 0.78 mm; FOV: 200 mm; FA: 180 degrees; PB: 230 Hz/pixel) and a MESE T2* mapping sequence (TR/TE: 873/3.82-19.1 ms (5 echoes); VS: 3 × 0.625 × 0.625 mm; FOV: 160 mm; FA: 25 degrees; PB: 250 Hz/pixel).

Assessment: Automated cartilage segmentation and quantitative analysis provided T2 and T2* data from test-retest MR examinations to assess immediate reliability.

Statistical Tests: Coefficient of variation (CV) and intraclass correlations (ICC) to analyse automated T2 and T2* mapping reliability focusing on the clinically important superior cartilage regions of the hip joint.

Results: Comparisons between test-retest T2 and (T2*) data revealed mean CV's of 3.385% (1.25%), mean ICC's of 0.871 (0.984) and median mean differences of -1.139ms (+0.195ms).

Conclusion: The T2 and T2* times from automated analyses of hip cartilage from test-retest MR examinations had high (T2) and excellent (T2*) immediate reliability.