Bias of cartilage T2 values related to method of calculation

✍ Scribed by Matthew F. Koff; Kimberly K. Amrami; Joel P. Felmlee; Kenton R. Kaufman

• Book ID: 104060347
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 422 KB
• Volume: 26
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0730-725X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mri.2008.03.002

✦ Synopsis

Purpose: To determine how different methods for calculating T 2 affect the resulting T 2 values of patellar cartilage. Materials and Methods: T 2 -weighted images of patellar cartilage for 10 subjects were acquired using two MRI scanners. T 2 values of patellar cartilage were calculated using linear, weighted and nonlinear fitting algorithms for a monoexponential decay equation. T 2 values were also calculated for the superficial, middle and deep zones of the cartilage. Results: All three methods of calculation resulted in significantly different T 2 values (Pb.0001). The weighted calculation produced the highest T 2 values, and the nonlinear calculation produced the lowest T 2 values. The average difference of T 2 value between the methods was under 5 ms. Similar results were found in a zonal analysis of the tissue. The nonlinear calculation of T 2 consistently had the best fit to the acquired data.

Conclusion:

The T 2 value of patellar cartilage depends on the method of calculation. It is unclear if larger T 2 value differences would be seen in subjects diagnosed with osteoarthritis. This study highlights the potential difficulty of comparing different studies with one another based on the method of T 2 calculation.