COMPARATIVE STUDY
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Add like
Add dislike
Add to saved papers

Hip imaging of avascular necrosis at 7 Tesla compared with 3 Tesla.

OBJECTIVES: To compare ultra-high field, high-resolution bilateral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the hips at 7 Tesla (T) with 3 T MRI in patients with avascular necrosis (AVN) of the femoral head by subjective image evaluations, contrast measurements, and evaluation of the appearance of imaging abnormalities.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirteen subjects with avascular necrosis treated using advanced core decompression underwent MRI at both 7 T and 3 T. Sequence parameters as well as resolution were kept identical for both field strengths. All MR images (MEDIC, DESS, PD/T2w TSE, T1w TSE, and STIR) were evaluated by two radiologists with regard to subjective image quality, soft tissue contrasts, B1 homogeneity (four-point scale, higher values indicating better image quality) and depiction of imaging abnormalities of the femoral heads (three-point scale, higher values indicating the superiority of 7 T). Contrast ratios of soft tissues were calculated and compared with subjective data.

RESULTS: 7-T imaging of the femoral joints, as well as 3-T imaging, achieved "good" to "very good" quality in all sequences. 7 T showed significantly higher soft tissue contrasts for T2w and MEDIC compared with 3 T (cartilage/fluid: 2.9 vs 2.2 and 3.6 vs 2.6), better detailed resolution for cartilage defects (PDw, T2w, T1w, MEDIC, DESS > 2.5) and better visibility of joint effusions (MEDIC 2.6; PDw/T2w 2.4; DESS 2.2). Image homogeneity compared with 3 T (3.9-4.0 for all sequences) was degraded, especially in TSE sequences at 7 T through signal variations (7 T: 2.1-2.9); to a lesser extent also GRE sequences (7 T: 2.9-3.5). Imaging findings related to untreated or treated AVN were better delineated at 3 T (≤1.8), while joint effusions (2.2-2.6) and cartilage defects (2.5-3.0) were better visualized at 7 T. STIR performed much more poorly at 7 T, generating large contrast variations (1.5).

CONCLUSIONS: 7-T hip MRI showed comparable results in hip joint imaging compared with 3 T with slight advantages in contrast detail (cartilage defects) and fluid detection at 7 T when accepting image degradation medially.

Full text links

We have located links that may give you full text access.
Can't access the paper?
Try logging in through your university/institutional subscription. For a smoother one-click institutional access experience, please use our mobile app.

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

Mobile app image

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.

By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Your Privacy Choices Toggle icon

You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app