Synthetic MRI with quantitative mapping in evaluating the osteonecrosis of femoral head

Motivation: Both qualitative and quantitative diagnosis of ONFH can be achieved through Synthetic MRI. Goal(s): To investigate the value of Synthetic MRI in evaluating the osteonecrosis of femoral head(ONFH). Approach: 336 hips in 168 cases of clinically diagnosed patients with ONFH were recruited and measured with T1, T2 and PD mapping derived by Synthetic MRI, 70 hips were normal as controls and 256 were ONFH. Results: T1 , T2 and PD values showed significantly different values between ONFH and normal hip(all P<0.001). .With further ROC analysis, the diagnostic efficacy of T1 in the necrosis region and edema region was better than T2 and PD. Impact: MRI images are important for clinical diagnosis of ONFH, while conventional MRI is qualitative diagnosis, quantitative diagnosis of ONFH is not yet available, therefore, Synthetic MRI may be considered an effective quantitative method in differentiating ONFH from normal femoral.