in vivo DTI of Articular Cartialge at 3T with a Spin Echo Radial Diffusion Tensor Imaging (RAISED) Sequence

Jose G. Raya¹, Eike Dettmann¹, Ali-mohammad Golestani¹, Kai Tobias Block²

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) of articular cartilage has demonstrated high accuracy (90%) for the diagnosis of osteoarthritis (OA). In vivo DTI of articular cartilage has been performed at 7 T, which limits its clinical applicability. To perform DTI of articular cartilage at 3 T we developed a radial spin echo diffusion tensor imaging (RAISED) sequence. We optimize the RAISED sequence for articular cartilage. Phantom measurements were used to test the accuracy of the DTI parameters. In vivo validation on healthy and OA subjects demonstrated the feasibility of the RAISED sequence for in vivo DTI of articular cartilage at 3 T.