Matthew F. Koff1, Hollis G. Potter1
1Department of Radiology and Imaging,
Hospital for Special
The
rotator cuff tendons typically display low signal on standard clinical images
due to the highly ordered collagen within the tissue. Ultrashort echo (UTE)
imaging creates contrast for visualization and for T2* quantitation. This
study used T2* mapping to evaluate rotator cuff repair in an ovine model.
Reparative surgery was performed to the supraspinatus tendon in sheep.
Shoulders were scanned ex-vivo 8 weeks post-operatively. T2* values of
repaired tendon were significantly longer than normal tendon. The T2* values
decreased in magnitude along the length of the repair, but not significantly.
This pilot study highlights the use of UTE for quantitative evaluation of soft
tissue repair.
Keywords