Quantitative ultrashort echo time MR imaging of knee osteochondral junction: An ex vivo feasibility study

Compositional changes can occur in the osteochondral junction (OCJ) during the early stages and progressive disease evolution of knee osteoarthritis (OA). However, conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences are not able to image these regions efficiently because of the OCJ region's rapid signal decay. The development of new sequences able to image and quantify OCJ region is therefore highly desirable. We developed a comprehensive ultrashort echo time (UTE) MRI protocol for quantitative assessment of OCJ region in the knee joint, including UTE variable flip angle technique for T₁ mapping, UTE magnetization transfer (UTE-MT) modeling for macromolecular proton fraction (MMF) mapping, UTE adiabatic T_1ρ (UTE-AdiabT_1ρ) sequence for T_1ρ mapping, and multi-echo UTE sequence for T₂* mapping. B₁ mapping based on the UTE actual flip angle technique was utilized for B₁ correction in T₁, MMF, and T_1ρ measurements. Ten normal and one abnormal cadaveric human knee joints were scanned on a 3T clinical MRI scanner to investigate the feasibility of OCJ imaging using the proposed protocol. Volumetric T₁, MMF, T_1ρ, and T₂* maps of the OCJ, as well as the superficial and full-thickness cartilage regions, were successfully produced using the quantitative UTE imaging protocol. Significantly lower T₁, T_1ρ, and T₂* relaxation times were observed in the OCJ region compared with those observed in both the superficial and full-thickness cartilage regions, whereas MMF showed significantly higher values in the OCJ region. In addition, all four UTE biomarkers showed substantial differences in the OCJ region between normal and abnormal knees. These results indicate that the newly developed 3D quantitative UTE imaging techniques are feasible for T₁, MMF, T_1ρ, and T₂* mapping of knee OCJ, representative of a promising approach for the evaluation of compositional changes in early knee OA.