
PurposeTo demonstrate an ultrashort echo time magnetic resonance fingerprinting (UTE‐MRF) method that allows quantifying relaxation times for muscle and bone in the musculoskeletal system and generating bone enhanced images that mimic CT scans.MethodsA fast imaging steady‐state free precession MRF sequence with half pulse excitation and half projection readout was designed to sample fast T2 decay signals. Varying echo time (TE) of a sinusoidal pattern was applied to enhance sensitivity for tissues with short and ultrashort T2 values. The performance of UTE‐MRF was evaluated via simulations, phantom, and in vivo experiments.ResultsA minimal TE of 0.05 ms was achieved. Simulations indicated the sinusoidal TE sampling increased T2 quantification accuracy in the cortical bone and tendon but had little impact on long T2 muscle quantifications. For the rubber phantom, the averaged relaxometries from UTE‐MRF (T1 = 162 ms and T2 = 1.07 ms) compared well with the gold standard (T1 = 190 ms and = 1.03 ms). For the long T2 agarose phantom, the linear regression slope between UTE‐MRF and gold standard was 1.07 (R2 = 0.991) for T1 and 1.04 (R2 = 0.994) for T2. In vivo experiments showed the detection of the cortical bone (averaged T2 = 1.0 ms) and Achilles tendon (averaged T2 = 15 ms). Scalp structures from the bone enhanced image show high similarity with CT.ConclusionThe UTE‐MRF with sinusoidal TEs can simultaneously quantify T1, T2, proton density, and B0 in long, short, even ultrashort T2 musculoskeletal structures. Bone enhanced images can be achieved in the brain with UTE‐MRF.
Leg, Phantoms, Imaging, Image and Video Processing (eess.IV), Brain, FOS: Physical sciences, Electrical Engineering and Systems Science - Image and Video Processing, Physics - Medical Physics, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Tendons, Cortical Bone, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, FOS: Electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering, Humans, Computer Simulation, Medical Physics (physics.med-ph)
Leg, Phantoms, Imaging, Image and Video Processing (eess.IV), Brain, FOS: Physical sciences, Electrical Engineering and Systems Science - Image and Video Processing, Physics - Medical Physics, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Tendons, Cortical Bone, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, FOS: Electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering, Humans, Computer Simulation, Medical Physics (physics.med-ph)
| selected citations These citations are derived from selected sources. This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | 14 | |
| popularity This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network. | Top 10% | |
| influence This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | Average | |
| impulse This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network. | Top 10% |
