Yongxian Qian1, Ashley A. Williams2, Constance R. Chu2, Fernando E. Boada1
1Department of Radiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; 2Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
This study presents initial experimental results of bi-exponential T2* mapping of human knee cartilage explants, based on ultra-short echo time (UTE) images acquired on a clinical 3T scanner. The non-negative least squares (NNLS) algorithm was used to identify bi-T2* decay at selected pixels while Monte Carlo simulations were implemented for optimizing the design of TE series needed in the bi-T2* mapping. The bi-exponential T2* mapping of healthy and diseased knee cartilage explants were demonstrated to show the difference in short-T2* time and population between healthy and diseased explants.
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