MRI T2 mapping of the asymptomatic supraspinatus tendon by age and imaging plane using clinically relevant subregions

Diagnosis of partial rotator cuff tears and tendonopathy using conventional MRI has proven variable. Quantitative T2 mapping may have application for assessing rotator cuff health. In order to evaluate the usefulness of T2 mapping for the rotator cuff, methods must be refined for mapping the supraspinatus tendon, and normative T2 values must first be acquired.

This study was IRB approved. Thirty asymptomatic volunteers (age: 18-62) were evaluated with sagittal and coronal T2 mapping sequences. Manual segmentation of tendon and muscle as a unit and tendon alone was performed twice by two independent raters. Segmentations were divided into medial, middle and lateral subregions and mean T2 values calculated.

Anatomic comparison of mean T2 values illustrated highest values in the medial region, lowest values in the lateral region, and intermediate values for the middle region upon coronal segmentation (p<0.001). In sagittal segmentations, there were higher values in the medial region and no significant differences between the lateral and middle subregions. No significant differences were found with comparison across age groups. Inter and intra-rater segmentation repeatability was excellent, with coefficients ranging from 0.85 to 0.99.

T2 mapping illustrated anatomic variation along the supraspinatus muscle-tendon unit with low standard deviations and excellent repeatability, suggesting that changes in structure due to degeneration or changes associated with healing after repair may be detectable.