Synthetic MRI of the Knee: Phantom Validation and Comparison with Conventional MRI

test, and Cohen Kappa. P values less than or equal to .01 were considered to indicate a statistically significant difference. Results Synthetic MRI quantification of T1, T2, and PD values had an overall model-corrected error margin of 0.8%. The synthetic MRI interday repeatability of articular cartilage quantification had native and model-corrected error margins of 3.3% and 3.5%, respectively. The cartilage-to-fluid CNR and menisci-to-fluid CNR was higher on synthetic than conventional MR images (P ≤ .001, respectively). Synthetic MRI improved short-tau inversion recovery fat suppression (P ˂ .01). Intermethod agreements of structural abnormalities were good (kappa, 0.621-0.739). Conclusion Synthetic MRI of the knee is accurate for T1, T2, and proton density quantification, and simultaneously generated morphologic MR images have detection rates of structural abnormalities similar to those of conventional MR images, with similar acquisition time.