TABLE 2.

Characteristics and Fields of Applications of Multiple MR Acquisition and Processing Techniques

	GRE	BB	UTE	ZTE	sCT
Generation	Acq.	Acq.	Acq.	Acq.	Processing
Hardware requirement	Low	Low	High	High	Low
Software requirement	Low	Low	High	High	High
Availability	High	High	Low	Low	Medium
Pros	‐ Fast 3D (isotropic) acquisition	‐ Uniform soft tissue contrast	‐ Acquisition of cortical bone signal	‐ Fast 3D isotropic silent acquisition ‐ Not sensitive to motion ‐ Acquisition of cortical bone signal	‐ Quantitative (Hounsfield units)
Cons	‐ Low signal acquired in cortical bone	‐ Low signal acquired in bone	‐ Susceptible to gradient inhomogeneity ‐ Spatially nonselective 3D excitation	‐ Spatially nonselective excitation	‐ Questionable reliability
Applications	‐ Fracture detection ‐ Structural changes ‐ Morphometric parameters assessment	‐ Fracture detection ‐ Skull suture assessment ‐ Surgical planning	‐ Structural changes ‐ Fracture detection	‐ Structural changes ‐ Morphometric parameters assessment	‐ Structural changes ‐ Morphometric parameters assessment ‐ Surgical planning
Anatomical regions	‐ Skull ‐ Spine ‐ Shoulder ‐ Hip ‐ Long bones	‐ Skull ‐ Spine ‐ Long bones	‐ Skull ‐ Spine ‐ Shoulder ‐ Long bones	‐ Skull ‐ Spine ‐ Shoulder ‐ Hip	‐ Spine ‐ Pelvis ‐ Long bones

GRE = gradient‐echo; BB = black bone; UTE = ultrashort echo time; ZTE = zero echo time; sCT = synthetic computed tomography; Acq. = acquisition; MR = magnetic resonance.