Reproducibility of Knee Articular Cartilage T2 Mapping with Clinical MRI Scanners: A Multi-site Multi-vendor Study

Motivation: Literature lacks large scale multi-site multi-vendor investigations on reproducibility of T2 mapping in articular cartilage. Goal(s): To characterize the inter-scanner variability and reproducibility of T2 mapping in human articular cartilage with clinical MRI scanners. Approach: A knee of a volunteer was scanned in 28 unique clinical MRI scanners at 13 sites. Quantitative T2 values were compared between scanners in patellar, femoral, and tibial articular cartilage. Results: T2 mapping of articular cartilage produces similar results with all clinical scanners. However, biologically interesting minor changes in cartilage T2 are likely to fall undetected due to inter-scanner variability. Impact: The results support T2 mapping in clinical practice and encourage its use with clinical scanners. The results will be directly utilized in the development of the quality of MRI studies locally.