R. Adam Horch1, 2, Jeffry S. Nyman3, 4, Daniel F. Gochberg2, 5, Mary Kate Manhard1, 2, Mark D. Does1, 2
1Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States; 2Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States; 3VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System; 4Department of Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States; 5Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
Modern ultrashort echo-time (uTE) MRI is a clinically feasible method for imaging human cortical bone. The conventional uTE signal from cortical bone contains non-discriminated contributions from both bound and pore water. Previous work has linked bound or pore water-discriminated measures to bone mechanical properties, so it is necessary to isolate bound from pore water for diagnostic utility. This work explores two modifications to uTE MRI, which incorporate T2-selective adiabatic full passage (AFP) RF pulses to selectively image bound or pore water. These AFP methods are performed with clinically-relevant scan parameters and provide quantitative images of bound or pore water.
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