Short T2 imaging using a 3D double adiabatic inversion recovery prepared ultrashort echo time cones (3D DIR-UTE-Cones) sequence

Ya-Jun Ma, Yanchun Zhu, Xing Lu, Michael Carl, Eric Chang, Jiang Du
2018 Magnetic Resonance in Medicine   unpublished
Purpose: To investigate high contrast imaging of short T 2 tissues with a three-dimensional double adiabatic inversion recovery prepared ultrashort echo time Cones (3D DIR-UTE-Cones) sequence. Methods: The sequence used two sequential adiabatic inversion pulses to suppress signals from long T 2 tissues, followed by multispoke UTE acquisition to detect signals from short T 2 tissues. The two adiabatic inversion pulses are identical with a center frequency located at the water peak, but the
more » ... al width is broad enough to cover both water and fat frequencies. The feasibility of this technique was demonstrated through numerical simulation and phantom studies. Finally, DIR-UTE-Cones was applied to three healthy volunteers to image cortical bone, patellar tendon, and Achilles tendon. T Ã 2 was also measured via single-component exponential fitting. Results: Numerical simulation suggests that the DIR technique provides perfect nulling of muscle and fat as well as efficient suppression of other long T 2 tissues with T 1 values between fat and water or those above water. Excellent image contrast can be achieved with DIR-UTE-Cones for the short T 2 tissues, with fitted T Ã 2 values of 0.28-0.38 ms for cortical bone, 0.56 6 0.07 ms for the patella tendon, and 0.45 6 0.06 ms for the Achilles tendon, respectively. Conclusion: The 3D DIR-UTE-Cones sequence provides robust suppression of long T 2 tissues and allows selective imaging as well as T Ã 2 measurement of short T 2 tissues such as cortical bone, patellar tendon, and the Achilles tendon.
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