Diffusion Imaging of Supraspinatus Tendon Using a UTE-Based DW-SSFP Sequence

Motivation: The DW-SSFP sequence was confirmed to be sensitive for tissues of short T2 using ex vivo specimens last year. I want to evaluate its performance for supraspinatus tendons of human subjects. Goal(s): Obtain a superior sensitivity of the DW-SSFP than the 2-D EPI diffusion sequence for fractional anisotropy of the supraspinatus tendon within a comparable scan time. Approach: An EPI diffusion sequence with a shortest echo time was compared with the DW-SSFP sequence of TR=10 ms at 3T. Results: The factional anisotropy along the supraspinatus tendon was detected with a higher sensitivity with the DW-SSFP sequence than the EPI sequence. Impact: The muscular tendon of short T2 can be studied using diffusion imaging with a detectible sensitivity for the 3-D volume in 5 min. The DW-SSFP sequence can replace the conventional 2-D EPI diffusion imaging sequence in muscular tendon diffusion imaging.