[MRT of the knee joint cartilage using 3D volume imaging in combination with a fast image processor]

From the knees of healthy persons and cadavers 2D-spin-echo-sequences were compared to 3D-gradient-echo-sequences (FLASH, FISP). We were able to show that 3D-volume-imaging, combined with image processing on a fast computer, is superior to 2D-spin-echo-imaging. The advantages are: slice thickness lower than 1 mm, secondary reconstruction in any desired plane, good contrast between intraarticular fluid, the meniscus and the hyaline cartilage. For the practical application of 3D-volume-imaging resulting in multiple images the secondary reconstruction and post processing of the large numbers of images with an image processing computer is necessary.