Meeting Banner
Abstract #0813

Improved Sodium MRI of the Human Knee with Projection Acquisition in the Steady State at 4.7 Tesla

Alexander Watts1, Robert Stobbe1, Adrian Tsang1, Christian Beaulieu1

1Biomedical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada


Sodium MRI of knee cartilage is a possible diagnostic method for osteoarthritis, but low signal strength in vivo results in poor quality images. A steady state approach (shorter TR, longer excitation pulse widths) to 3D twisted projection image acquisition may improve sodium SNR by increased averaging over a constant scan time and SAR of 6 W/kg. Simulations predicted a 42% increase in SNR for steady state over fully relaxed parameters while a 26+/-5% increase was determined experimentally for sodium in human knee cartilage (n=9). Partial volume effects with synovial fluid and/or relaxation parameter differences may be responsible for this disagreement.