UTE imaging in the musculoskeletal system

J Magn Reson Imaging. 2015 Apr;41(4):870-83. doi: 10.1002/jmri.24713. Epub 2014 Jul 16.

Abstract

Tissues, such as bone, tendon, and ligaments, contain a high fraction of components with "short" and "ultrashort" transverse relaxation times and therefore have short mean transverse relaxation times. With conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences that employ relatively long echo times (TEs), there is no opportunity to encode the decaying signal of short and ultrashort T2 /T2 * tissues before it has reached zero or near zero. The clinically compatible ultrashort TE (UTE) sequence has been increasingly used to study the musculoskeletal system. This article reviews the UTE sequence as well as various modifications that have been implemented since its introduction. These modifications have been used to improve efficiency or contrast as well as provide quantitative analysis. This article reviews several clinical musculoskeletal applications of UTE.

Keywords: bicomponent analysis; musculoskeletal tissues; quantitative MRI; ultrashort TE.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Bone and Bones / anatomy & histology*
  • Cartilage, Articular / anatomy & histology*
  • Humans
  • Image Enhancement / methods
  • Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / methods*
  • Imaging, Three-Dimensional / methods
  • Joints / anatomy & histology*
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Tendons / anatomy & histology*