Henk Smit1, J. van Tiel1, E.E. Bron1, D. Poot1, G.C. Houston2, W.J. Niessen1, 3, H. Weinans1, G.P. Krestin1, S. Klein1, E.H.G. Oei1, G.
1Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, Zuid Holland, Netherlands; 2GE Healthcare, Netherlands; 3Delft University of Technology, Netherlands
In conventional T1 mapping of the human knee cartilage the low resolution is a problem. We propose and evaluate an alternative T1 mapping technique of the cartilage. Multi-Slice Inversion Recovery with ARC parallel readout allows high resolution knee cartilage images in a short time. Also a method for error estimation of the derived T1 values is presented, which is used to compute a weighted mean T1 over a region of interest. Reproducibility is tested on healthy volunteers and sensitivity to cartilage damage is shown on an osteoarthritis patient.