Figure 7.
Comparison of signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) and SNR efficiencies (η) normalized to the scan time and voxel volume. The SNR values (a) show that UTEDESS outperforms DESS in all short-T2 tissues, except in the S+ echo for meniscus. The S− SNR, however, is higher for all short-T2 tissues with UTEDESS. This higher SNR makes accurate T2 fitting possible. (b) The higher SNR efficiencies with UTEDESS show that when normalized for the resolution and scan time, UTEDESS provides a higher SNR in all short-T2 tissues per unit time, compared to DESS, while maintaining a comparable SNR efficiency in the longer-T2 tissues such as cartilage.