Abstract #1388

Imaging of the Osteochondral Interface and Deep Cartilage Using SWIFT

Mikko Johannes Nissi¹, Jinjin Zhang¹, Djaudat Idiyatullin¹, Curtis Corum¹, Cathy Carlson², Ferenc Toth², Miika Tapio Nieminen³,⁴, Jutta Ellermann¹

¹CMRR - Dept. of Radiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States; ²Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States; ³Department of Medical Technology, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland; ⁴Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland

The involvement of the osteochondral interface in osteoarthritis is known, but perhaps less appreciated than warranted. Recent developments in ultrashort/zero-echo time imaging methods have enabled the MRI investigation of calcified and subchondral structures. In uTE studies, the bright line at the cartilage-bone interface has been associated with calcified layer of cartilage and deep layers of cartilage. In the present study, SWIFT was utilized to further study the origin of this feature. The results confirmed the earlier findings but also pointed to a possible contribution of signal pileup due to susceptibility differences between cartilage and bone or calcified cartilage.