UTE-T2⁎ Analysis of Diseased and Healthy Achilles Tendons and Correlation with Clinical Score: An In Vivo Preliminary Study

Objective. To compare T2⁎ value of healthy and diseased Achilles tendons (AT) with a recently introduced three-dimensional ultrashort echo time (3D-UTE) sequence and analyze the correlation between T2⁎ value and clinical scores. Methods. Ten patients with symptomatic Achilles tendon and ten healthy volunteers were investigated with 3D-UTE sequence on a 3T magnetic resonance (MR) scanner. T2⁎ values of four regions in Achilles tendons were calculated. The clinical outcomes of patients were evaluated according to the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) score and Achilles Tendon Rupture Score (ATRS). An independent sample t-test was used to compare the differences of T2⁎ value and clinical scores between two groups. The Pearson correlation coefficient between clinical scores and T2⁎ values was assessed. Results. The T2⁎ values of Achilles tendon were statistically significantly different between patients and volunteers. The Pearson correlation coefficients between T2⁎ and AOFAS or ATRS scores of patients were r = -0.733 and r = -0.634, respectively. Conclusion. The variability of T2⁎ in healthy and pathologic AT can be quantified by UTE-T2⁎. T2⁎ may be a promising marker to detect and diagnose AT tendinopathy. UTE-T2⁎ could give a precise guidance to clinical outcome.