Characterization of Equine Chronic Tendon Lesions in Low- and High-Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Doll, CU; von Pueckler, K; Offhaus, J; Berner, D; Burk, J

Abstract

In equine medicine, experience regarding MRI of chronic tendon lesions is limited, and evidence on the suitability of different sequences in 3 T high-field MRI is scarce. Therefore, macroscopically healthy and altered tendons were examined by histology and in 0.27 T low- and 3 T high-field MRI, focusing on T1-weighted (T1w) sequences to visualize chronic lesions. In high-field MRI, tendons were positioned parallel (horizontal) and perpendicular (vertical) to the magnetic field, acknowledging the possible impact of the magic angle effect. The images were evaluated qualitatively and signal intensities were measured for quantitative analysis. Qualitative evaluation was consistent with the quantitative results, yet there were differences in lesion detection between the sequences. The low-field T1w GRE sequence and high-field T1w FLASH sequence with vertically positioned tendons displayed all tendon lesions. However, the horizontally scanned high-field T1w SE sequence failed to detect chronic tendon lesions. The agreement regarding tendon signal intensities was higher between high-field sequences scanned in the same orientation (horizontal or vertical) than between the same types of sequence (SE or FLASH), demonstrating the impact of tendon positioning. Vertical scanning was superior for diagnosis of the tendon lesions, suggesting that the magic angle effect plays a major role in detecting chronic tendon disease.

Citation

Doll, C., von Pueckler, K., Offhaus, J., Berner, D., & Burk, J. (2022). Characterization of Equine Chronic Tendon Lesions in Low- and High-Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Veterinary Sciences, 9(6), https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci9060297

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 13, 2022
• Publication Date: 2022
• Deposit Date: Aug 22, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 22, 2022
• Journal: Veterinary Sciences
• Electronic ISSN: 2306-7381
• Publisher: MDPI
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 6
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci9060297
• Keywords: chronic tendon disease; magnetic resonance imaging; magic angle effect; low-field MRI; high-field MRI; DIGITAL FLEXOR TENDON; MAGIC-ANGLE PHENOMENON; LIGAMENT INJURIES; SIGNAL INTENSITY; DIODE-LASER; RACEHORSES; AGREEMENT; ORIENTATION; SEQUENCES; IMAGES