Table 2.
T2 measurements, intra-subject repeatability CVs, and the SNR values for both echoes with UTEDESS and DESS. The reported T2 values per sequence are averages of the two repeated scans across all volunteers. There is good agreement between T2 measurements in the meniscus with DESS and UTEDESS, however, DESS overestimates the T2 of tendons and ligaments, likely due to low-SNR in both echoes. The UTEDESS T2 measurements show high repeatability with CV values lower than 10%.
| LAM | LBM | LPM | MAM | MBM | MPM | PT | QT | ACL | PCL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UTEDESS | ||||||||||
| T2 (ms) | 10.6±1.5 | 9.7±2.1 | 9.7±1.5 | 11.4±1.6 | 10.9±1.4 | 10.9±1.8 | 6.0±1.1 | 5.2±0.5 | 9.3±0.8 | 5.8±0.6 |
| T2 CV (%) | 8.9 | 8.6 | 5.8 | 6.7 | 6.1 | 8.0 | 4.9 | 6.5 | 5.6 | 5.6 |
| S+ SNR | 33.1±6.4 | 35.3±6.1 | 34.2±5.4 | 37.8±3.6 | 35.2±3.9 | 34.9±4.6 | 47.0±3.2 | 45.2±5.8 | 28.2±3.9 | 30.2±3.3 |
| S− SNR | 19.9±2.1 | 19.3±3.1 | 18.8±1.8 | 20.4±1.7 | 19.8±1.9 | 19.6±2.0 | 20.2±1.9 | 17.7±2.8 | 20.1±2.5 | 19.0±2.3 |
| DESS | ||||||||||
| T2 (ms) | 12.1±1.4 | 12.1±1.3 | 11.5±1.3 | 11.6±1.1 | 12.1±1.3 | 11.8±1.7 | 21.0±6.0 | 12.9±1.4 | 33.4±6.6 | 22.3±8.0 |
| T2 CV (%) | 5.7 | 4.1 | 4.5 | 3.1 | 3.9 | 4.1 | 18.6 | 4.1 | 6.0 | 9.2 |
| S+ SNR | 39.6±6.6 | 41.5±6.6 | 38.7±5.8 | 43.3±8.7 | 40.1±5.1 | 37.9±4.5 | 15.1±3.3 | 15.1±2.9 | 38.7±5.0 | 19.2±5.5 |
| S− SNR | 7.3±1.5 | 6.4±1.0 | 7.1±1.8 | 6.3±1.7 | 6.3±1.9 | 6.2±2.0 | 9.7±1.8 | 7.0±2.8 | 13.1±4.2 | 7.0±1.3 |
Abbreviations: LAM – lateral anterior meniscus, LBM – lateral meniscus body, LPM – lateral posterior meniscus, MAM – medial anterior meniscus, MBM – medial meniscus body, MPM – medial posterior meniscus, PT – patellar tendon, QT – quadriceps tendon, ACL – anterior cruciate ligament, PCL – posterior cruciate ligament.