Feasibility of Bone Porosity Assessment Using Dual-Echo uTE-MR Fingerprinting

Motivation: Bone porosity is crucial for bone strength, yet standard multi-echo uTE-GRE techniques are too time-consuming for clinical use. uTE MR Fingerprinting (MRF) has not been tested for porosity assessment. If feasible it may offer faster porosity mapping for clinical applications. Goal(s): Assessing the feasibility of using dual-echo 3D-uTE-MRF to measure porosity through simulations and preliminary in vivo testing. Approach: A dual-echo 3D-uTE-MRF sequence was tested for porosity accuracy and precision against standard multi-echo uTE-GRE via simulations. In-vivo, a volunteer's tibia was imaged to demonstrate the technique's preliminary viability. Results: In simulations, dual-echo uTE-MRF outperformed uTE-GRE, but in-vivo applications, despite feasibility, need further development. Impact: We demonstrated the feasibility of a dual-echo uTE MRF approach for measuring bone porosity trough simulation and a preliminary in-vivo acquisition.