Fang Liu1, Samuel A. Hurley1, Nade Sritanyaratana2, Walter F. Block1, 2, Richard Kijowski3
1Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States; 2Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States; 3Department of Radiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States
mcDESPOT was used to create multi-exponential T2 relaxation time and water fraction maps of patellar cartilage in 3 asymptomatic volunteers at 3.0T in a 20 minute scan time. T2 and water fraction values for the tightly bound macromolecular water component (Wm) and loosely bound bulk water component (Wb) were similar to values reported for ex-vivo bovine cartilage specimens using NMR spectroscopy. T2 for the Wb component was higher in the superficial than the deep layer of cartilage. Wm fraction was higher in the deep layer of cartilage, while Wb fraction was higher in the superficial layer.