Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 17, 2026

Noninvasive In Vivo Small Animal MRI and MRS: Basic Experimental Procedures
Published on: October 20, 2009
Human knee: in vivo T1(rho)-weighted MR imaging at 1.5 T--preliminary experience
U Duvvuri1, S R Charagundla, S B Kudchodkar
1Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, USA. uduvvuri@mail.med.upenn.edu
Abstract:
A fast spin-echo sequence weighted with a time constant that defines the magnetic relaxation of spins under the influence of a radio-frequency field (T1(rho)) was used in six subjects to measure magnetic resonance (MR) relaxation times in the knee joint with a 1.5-T MR imager. A quantitative comparison of T2- and T1(rho)-weighted MR images was also performed. Substantial T1(rho) dispersion was demonstrated in human articular cartilage, but muscle did not demonstrate much dispersion. T1(rho)-weighted images depicted a chondral lesion with 25% better signal-difference-to-noise ratios than comparable T2-weighted images. This technique may depict cartilage and muscular abnormalities.

