Morphological imaging and T2 and T2 mapping of hip cartilage at 7 Tesla MRI under the influence of intravenous gadolinium

Objectives To investigate the influence of intravenous gadolinium on cartilage T2 and T2* relaxation times and on morphological image quality at 7-T hip MRI. Methods Hips of 11 healthy volunteers were examined at 7 T. Multi-echo sequences for T2 and T2* mapping, 3D T1 volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination (VIBE) and double-echo steady-state (DESS) sequences were acquired before and after intravenous application of gadolinium according to a delayed gadolinium-enhanced MRI of cartilage (dGEMRIC) protocol. Cartilage relaxation times were measured in both scans. Morphological sequences were assessed quantitatively using contrast ratios and qualitatively using a 4-point Likert scale. Student’s t -test, Pearson’s correlation (ρ) and Wilcoxon sign-rank test were used for statistical comparisons. Results Pre- and post-contrast T2 and T2* values were highly correlated (T2: acetabular: ρ = 0.76, femoral: ρ = 0.77; T2*: acetabular: ρ = 0.80, femoral: ρ = 0.72). Gadolinium enhanced contrasts between cartilage and joint fluid in DESS and T1 VIBE according to the qualitative ( p = 0.01) and quantitative ( p