Motivation: T2 relaxation times are sensitive to cartilage degeneration with osteoarthritis, where small changes are associated with progression. The qDESS sequence offers an SNR-efficient and accurate approach to study T2 values but has yet to be evaluated in hips. Goal(s): This work evaluated repeatability of a bilateral qDESS sequence for hip cartilage T2 analysis. Approach: Repeatability of femoral and acetabular cartilage T2 values were compared for scans repeated within the same session and 1 week. Results: Scan-rescan and 1-week repeatability are high and comparable to results in the knee, suggesting qDESS provides a precise method for studying hip T2 values. Impact: This work evaluates the repeatability of qDESS in the hip, improving the ability of cartilage T2 imaging to be incorporated into studies of hip cartilage microstructure and osteoarthritis.
Watkins et al. (Tue,) studied this question.