High Resolution 3D Ultrashort Echo Time Imaging of the Achilles Tendon at 7T

Misung Han¹, Peder E.Z. Larson¹, Roland Krug¹

For musculoskeletal MRI, ultra-high-field MRI systems provide opportunities for assessing high-resolution morphology enabled by their intrinsic high SNR. With conventional imaging sequences, the Achilles tendon is normally dark due to its short T2 relaxation time, thus evaluating the pathology has been only possible by looking at an increased signal or morphological changes in the surrounding tissues. However, direct visualization of the tendon may allow for detecting early degeneration changes. Here, we demonstrated the feasibility of depicting the microstructure of the in vivo Achilles tendon by using 3D radial imaging and fat suppression at 7T.