Markus Weiger1,2, Klaas Paul Pruessmann3,
Anna-Katinka Bracher4, Sascha Khler2, Volker Lehmann5,
Uwe Wolfram6, Volker Rasche4
1Bruker BioSpin AG,
Faellanden, Switzerland; 2Bruker BioSpin MRI GmbH, Ettlingen,
Germany; 3Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University &
ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; 4Internal Medicine II, University
of Ulm, Ulm, Germany; 5Bruker BioSpin GmbH, Rheinstetten, Germany;
6Institute of Orthopaedic Research & Biomechanics, University
of Ulm, Ulm, Germany
ZTE is an MRI technique with 3D radial centre-out encoding and zero echo time, particularly suited for imaging samples with short T2. In this work, the short-T2 capability, robustness, and efficiency of ZTE are used for high-resolution in-vitro imaging of human teeth. Images with excellent image quality are obtained, clearly delineating dentin and enamel. Compared with UTE, superior SNR and CNR are found for the mineralised layers. Furthermore, better sensitivity to demineralisation is observed compared with x-ray-based microscopic imaging.
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