Simultaneous Fat, Water and T2* Mapping for Quantitative Characterization of Bone Marrow Pathology

Pippa Storey¹, Stephen Honig², David R. Stoffel¹, Sandra L. Moore¹

Early malignant infiltration of bone marrow, characterized by small or diffuse lesions, is difficult to detect using routine sequences. We propose a multiple gradient echo technique to quantify trabecular loss (via R2*) and altered marrow fat content (via chemical shift). For validation purposes, the technique was tested in 6 patients with osteoporosis or osteopenia, using 8 healthy young men as controls. Both fat content and R2* differed significantly between patients and controls (p=0.04 and p=0.0003 respectively). Among patients, fat content and R2* exhibited significant correlations with bone mineral density evaluated by DXA (r=-0.89 with p=0.02, and r=0.88 with p=0.02 respectively).