PROTON DOUBLE-QUANTUM FILTERED MRI - A NEW METHOD FOR IMAGING ORDEREDTISSUES

The imaging of connective tissues such as cartilage and tendons using standard MRI techniques is hampered by their low signal relative to th e surrounding tissues,H- 1 double-quantum filtered (DQF) MRI is an ima ging method that detects molecules associated with ordered structures, while the signal from isotropic fluids is filtered out, thus creating a new type of contrast, The technique is demonstrated on an intact ra t tail, where the image of the tendons is highlighted. Although the si gnal-to-noise ratio is inferior to that in gradient-echo MRI, the cont rast between the tendons and the surrounding tissues is significantly better in the DQF MRI. It is demonstrated how, by adjusting the parame ters of the DQF imaging pulse sequence, one can modify the contrast an d enhance the images of specific compartments within an organ, A compa rison with H-2 DQF imaging of the same tissue is also given.