Motivation: If fat signal is not properly suppressed, it can lead to errors in the T2 calculations in human articular cartilage. Goal(s): This work aimed to quantify the influence of fat suppression on T2 values as well as texture features extracted from T2 maps. Approach: Ten donors were scanned in 3T MRI with DESS, T2-TESS and CPMG with and without fat suppression. Results: The results of this study showed the importance of using fat suppression while acquiring T2 maps. The influence of fat suppression was substantially greater for CPMG-T2-mapping compared to TESS-T2-mapping. Impact: If fat signal is not properly suppressed, it can lead to errors in the T2 calculations in human articular cartilage which can have a significant impact on longitudinal clinical trials.

The influence of fat-suppression on T2 values and texture features in articular cartilage