Quantifying Tendon Degeneration Using Magic Angle Insensitive Ultra-Short Echo Time Magnetization Transfer: A Phantom Study in Bovine Tendons

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to qualitatively and quantitatively assess changes in bovine flexor tendons before and after collagen degradation and at different angles in relation to the static B 0 field using 3-dimensional ultra-short echo time (UTE) magnetization transfer (MT) imaging within a clinically feasible acquisition time. MATERIALS AND METHODS Eight bovine flexor tendons were examined at 3 T magnetic resonance imaging including 3-dimensional UTE MT and UTE T2* research application sequences (acquired within 4:04 and 6:38 minutes, respectively) before and after enzyme-induced degradation. The tendons were divided into 2 groups: group 1 (controls) treated with phosphate-buffered saline and group 2 treated with collagenase I to induce collagen degeneration. Magnetic resonance imaging was repeated at 0, 27, 55, and 90 degrees to the B 0 field. To calculate quantitative tissue properties, all tendons were semiautomatically segmented, and changes in quantitative UTE T2* and UTE MT ratios (MTRs) were compared at different angles and between groups. In addition to descriptive statistics, the coefficient of variation was calculated to compare UTE MT and UTE T2* imaging. RESULTS Ultra-short echo time MTR showed a significantly lower coefficient of variation compared with UTE T2* values, indicating a more robust imaging method (UTE MTR 9.64%-11.25%, UTE T2* 18.81%-24.06%, P < 0.001). Both methods showed good performance in detecting degenerated tendons using histopathology as reference standard, with UTE MT imaging having a better area under the curve than UTE T2* mapping (0.918 vs 0.865). Falsely high UTE T2* values were detected at the 55 degrees acquisition angle, whereas UTE MTR values were robust, that is, insensitive to the MAE. CONCLUSIONS Ultra-short echo time MT imaging is a reliable method for quantifying tendon degeneration that is robust to the MAE and can be acquired in a clinically reasonable time.