Advancing pediatric quantitative MSK through tailored denoising of routine acquisitions developed on an piglet model of LCPD

Motivation: Denoising algorithms may significantly improve the SNR of relaxation time maps of the bone and cartilage. Goal(s): To compare the performance of T-NORDIC and MPPCA denoising techniques for 3D T2 mapping of the femoral head. Approach: 3D T2 maps of the femoral heads from 12 piglets imaged at 3T MRI were denoised using MPPCA and T-NORDIC with parametric dimensions of 4 and 12. The results of qualitatively and quantitatively compared for image quality and quantitative accuracy. Results: T-NORDIC provided superior performance with limited parametric dimension (4 weighted images), demonstrating its promise for magnetization-prepared mapping sequences of the hip joint. Impact: T2 relaxation time mapping is critically investigated for addressing several MSK related diagnosis, but possibly due to thin and sensitive structures in the femoral head even slightest of the perturbations can lead to ineffective computation of quantitative mapping.