MR sequences find tendon signal
For over 20 years, T2-weighted MR sequences have been used to detect signal in long T2 components of tissue. Tissues, however, also contain short T2 components, which until recently were not detectable on MR. New sequences such as magic angle imaging and ultrashort TE have for the first time detected signal from tendons, ligaments, menisci, periosteum, and cortical bone, according to Prof. Graeme Bydder, a radiologist formerly at Hammersmith Hospital in London and now at the University of California, San Diego.
For over 20 years, T2-weighted MR sequences have been used to detect signal in long T2 components of tissue. Tissues, however, also contain short T2 components, which until recently were not detectable on MR. New sequences such as magic angle imaging and ultrashort TE have for the first time detected signal from tendons, ligaments, menisci, periosteum, and cortical bone, according to Prof. Graeme Bydder, a radiologist formerly at Hammersmith Hospital in London and now at the University of California, San Diego.
"In addition, ultrashort TE can directly detect signals from very tightly bound water in other tissues, which previously could only be observed indirectly using magnetization transfer," Bydder said.