Highlights • With 4D flow, any plane of interest can be interactively chosen for quantitative measurements. • Anatomical and flow data is obtained during an approximately 10-minute free-breathing ...scan. • 4D CMR flow measurements correlated well with the 2D PC ones. • Eddy current correction is important for good results with 4D flow
Abstract Objective To evaluate the possibility of assessing knee cartilage with T2-mapping and delayed Gadolinium Enhanced MRI of Cartilage (dGEMRIC) in one post-contrast MR examination at 3 Tesla ...(T). Design T2 mapping was performed in 10 healthy volunteers at baseline; directly after baseline; after 10 minutes of cycling; and after 90 minutes delay, and in 16 osteoarthritis patients before and after intravenous administration of a double dose gadolinium dimeglumine contrast agent, reflecting key dGEMRIC protocol elements. Differences in T2 relaxation times between each timepoint and baseline were calculated for 6 cartilage regions using paired t-tests or Wilcoxon signed-rank tests and the smallest detectable change (SDC). Results After cycling, a significant change in T2 relaxation times was found in the lateral weight-bearing tibial plateau (+1.0 ms, p=0.04). After 90 minutes delay, significant changes were found in the lateral weight-bearing femoral condyle (+1.2 ms, p=0.03) and the lateral weight-bearing tibial plateau (+1.3 ms, p=0.01). In these ROIs, absolute differences were small and lower than the corresponding SDCs. T2-mapping after contrast administration only showed statistically significantly lower T2 relaxation times in the medial posterior femoral condyle (-2.4 ms, p<0.001) with a change exceeding the SDC. Conclusion Because dGEMRIC protocol elements resulted in only small differences in T2 relaxation times that were not consistent and lower than the SDC in the majority of regions, our results suggest that T2-mapping and dGEMRIC can be performed reliably in a single imaging session to assess cartilage biochemical composition in knee OA at 3 T.
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