T2 mapping of cartilage with triple-echo steady state MR sequence

The goal of this work was to analyze the clinical and technical usability of recently introduced steady state free precession T2 mapping technique. The TESS-T2 values were compared to conventionally used multi-echo spin-echo sequence (usually referred to as CPMG). The results showed that although T2 values determined by TESS are lower than those of CPMG, they are highly correlated between two methods. Both, clinical and experimental studies might benefit from the speed of the 3D-TESS. The results of this study showed the clinical usability of a 3D-TESS sequence for T2 mapping of human articular knee cartilage. 3D-TESS provides highly correlated T2-values to conventional CMPG sequence with some additional benefits, such as dramatic shortening of acquisition time and fair insensitivity to B1 and B0 variations. Also, T2 values acquired with 3D-TESS can differentiate between reference and impaired cartilage