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Abstract #0226

Imaging of the Zone of Calcified Cartilage (ZCC) Using 3D Ultrashort TE Pulse Sequences

Jiang Du1, Won C. Bae1, Sheronda Statum1, Renie Biswas1, Michael Carl2, Atsushi Takahashi2, Christine B. Chung1, Graeme M. Bydder1

1Radiology, University of California, San Diego, CA, United States; 2Global Applied Science Laboratory, GE Healthcare Technologies, Menlo Park, CA, United States


The zone of calcified cartilage (ZCC) is a highly modified mineralized region of articular cartilage that forms an important interface between cartilage and bone. It is a region that may change dramatically in osteoarthritis (OA). However, all current clinical sequences show a signal void for the ZCC because of its short T2 and thin structure. Here we present 3D UTE sequences for ZCC imaging using three contrast mechanisms: dual echo acquisition and echo subtraction, single adiabatic inversion recovery (SIR) and dual inversion recovery (DIR). The feasibility of these techniques was tested on five cadaveric patellae on a clinical 3T scanner.