Analysis of early degenerative changes of arthritis cartilage

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We established the parameter for T1rho mapping sequences of magnetic resonance image to detect the degenerative cartilage, in particular, the loss of proteoglycan in the arthritis cartilage. The signal intensity of T1 rho mapping is correlated with the value of degeneration of arthritis cartilage. It is also correlated with the histological score of the cartilage. We also established a new simplified sequence for T1 rho mapping. The entire imaging time required for sT1p maps (6min 30s) was three-fifths shorter than that of the cT1p map (16min 15s). The image quality of the sT1p map_1_40 and of the sT1p map_1_80 was the similar to that of the cT1p map (Fig.1). The simplified T1p calculation method has the same potential as the conventional method to diagnose articular cartilage. We speculate that it would be appropriate to select two T1p prepared images using the shortest and longest TSLs. However, the image quality would be poor if images using long TSLs only were selected because long TSL may decrease the signal-to-noise ratio of T1p prepared image.