High field strength magnetic resonance imaging of musculoskeletal diseases

In Sook Lee; Jong Woon Song

doi:10.5124/jkma.2010.53.12.1074

J Korean Med Assoc > Volume 53(12); 2010 > Article

Lee and Song: High field strength magnetic resonance imaging of musculoskeletal diseases

Focused Issue of This Month

Clinical Application of High Field Strength Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Journal of the Korean Medical Association

Journal of the Korean Medical Association 2010; 53(12): 1074-1085.

Published online: December 07, 2010

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2010.53.12.1074

High field strength magnetic resonance imaging of musculoskeletal diseases

In Sook Lee, MD^1,², Jong Woon Song, MD³

¹Department of Radiology, Pusan National University Hospital, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Busan, Korea.

²Medical Research Institute, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan, Korea.

³Department of Radiology, Inje University Haeundae Paik Hospital, Busan, Korea.

Corresponding author: In Sook Lee, lis@pusan.ac.kr

Received November 01, 2010 Accepted November 14, 2010

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Musculskeletal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) applications are making the transition rapidly from 1.5 tesla (T) to 3T. The higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) that is available with a 3T MRI system allows for greater spatial resolution and provides the potential to improve the diagnostic capability of musculoskeletal MRI. With the use of 3T systems, one can enhance the SNR, spatial resolution, and contrast-to-noise ratio of intrinsic joint structures such as osseous, tendinous, cartilaginous, and ligamentous structures, which makes them more discernable and amenable to proper radiologic assessment. The SNR gain and coil technology advances allow for a smaller voxel-size and parallel imaging, reducing the acquisition time without significant signal loss. Three-dimensional (3D) fast spin echo sequences with isotropic resolution reduce partial volume artifacts through the acquisition of thin continuous sections and enable free 3D-multiplanar-reformatting without loss of image quality. This technique may be a promising method to replace currently used 2D sequences in clinical practice. In addition to current clinical applications, 3T MRI will contribute to the development of new molecular and functional MRI techniques.

Magnetic resonance imaging; High field strength; Musculoskeletal diseases; Arthrography; 3 tesla

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Figure 1

Coronal 3 tesla magnetic resonance images of knee in 69-year-old women show surgically confirmed avulsive tear of posterior root of medial meniscus. 2D coronal intermediateweighted image (A) shows faint intermediate signal intensity (arrow) in posterior medial meniscal root. However, definitely bandlike area of high signal intensity (arrow) is noted in posterior medial meniscal root on reformatted coronal image of 3D space isotropic intermediate-weighted density (B).

Figure 2

A 37-year-old man with focal cartilage defect and subchondral fracture in lateral tibial plateau. 2D coronal intermediate-weighted image (A) and reformatted coronal image of 3D isotropic intermediate-weighted sequence (B) of the knee demonstrate focal chondromalacia (arrow) clearly at 3 tesla magnetic resonance imaging.

Figure 3

A 22-year-old woman with osteonecrosis of right femoral head and secondary osteoarthritis. Fat-suppressed, coronal intermediate-weighted image at 3 tesla magnetic resonance imaging shows well diffuse irregularity of hyaline cartilage within the hip joint due to secondary osteoarthritis.

Figure 4

A 20-year-old man with healing process of subchondral insufficiency fracture at bilateral femoral heads. Coronal T1 VIBE images of both hip joints demonstrate normal acetabular labrum (arrow) within right hip joint (A) and deformed and detached labrum (arrow) of left hip joint (B).

Figure 5

A 53-year-old male patient with partial thickness tear of supraspinatus tendon. A focal defect at articular sur-face of supraspinatus tendon (arrow) was well delineated on post-arthrographic, fat-suppressed coronal T1-weighted image at 3 tesla system.

Figure 6

A 15-year-old girl with wrist pain. Focal discontinuity (arrow) of triangular fibrocartilage is well noted on fat-suppressed coronal intermediate-weighted image of 3 tesla magnetic resonance imaging.