Abstract
There are a variety of tissues in the musculoskeletal [MSK] system, such as menisci, ligaments, tendons, entheses, cortical and trabecular bone, which cannot be imaged with conventional magnetic resonance [MR] imaging sequences because of their short T2 relaxation times. We report a recent patent on ultrashort TE spectroscopic imaging [UTESI] which can be used to provide high resolution imaging as well as quantitative evaluation of the short T2 tissues in the MSK systems in vitro and in vivo. The recent patents on spectroscopic imaging and UTE imaging are also reviewed.
Keywords: Spectroscopic imaging, Ultrashort TE, short T2, MSK, Ultrashort Echo Time, Musculoskeletal System, Magnetic Resonance Assessment, Short-T2 Tissues, Chemical shift imaging, magnetic resonance [MR] spectroscopy, articular cartilage, metabolite signal intensity distributions, conventional clinical MR systems, T2 suppression pulses, highcontrast images