Repeatability of Quantitative Knee Cartilage T₁, T₂, and T₁ Mapping With 3D-MRI Fingerprinting

Background: Three-dimensional MR fingerprinting (3D-MRF) techniques have been recently described for simultaneous multiparametric mapping of knee cartilage. However, investigation of repeatability remains limited.Purpose: To assess the intra-day and inter-day repeatabilities of knee cartilage T-1 , T-2 , and T-1 rho maps using a 3D-MRF sequence for simultaneous measurement.Study type: Prospective.Subjects: Fourteen healthy subjects (35.4 +/- 9.3 years, eight males), scanned on Day 1 and Day 7.Field strength/sequence: 3 T/3D-MRF, T-1 , T-2 , and T-1 rho maps.Assessment: The acquisition of 3D-MRF cartilage (simultaneous acquisition of T-1 , T-2 , and T-1 rho maps) were acquired using a dictionary pattern-matching approach. Conventional cartilage T-1 , T-2 , and T-1 rho maps were acquired using variable flip angles and a modified 3D-Turbo-Flash sequence with different echo and spin-lock times, respectively, and were fitted using mono-exponential models. Each sequence was acquired on Day 1 and Day 7 with two scans on each day.Statistical tests: The mean and SD for cartilage T-1 , T-2 , and T-1 rho were calculated in five manually segmented regions of interest (ROIs), including lateral femur, lateral tibia, medial femur, medial tibia, and patella cartilages. Intra-subject and inter-subject repeatabilities were assessed using coefficient of variation (CV) and intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), respectively, on the same day and among different days. Regression and Bland-Altman analysis were performed to compare maps between the conventional and 3D-MRF sequences.Results: The CV in all ROIs was lower than 7.4%, 8.4%, and 7.5% and the ICC was higher than 0.56, 0.51, and 0.52 for cartilage T-1 , T-2 , and T-1 rho , respectively. The MRF results had a good agreement with the conventional methods with a linear regression slope >0.61 and R-2 > 0.59.Conclusion: The 3D-MRF sequence had high intra-subject and inter-subject repeatabilities for simultaneously measuring knee cartilage T-1 , T-2 , and T-1 rho with good agreement with conventional sequences.