The development of a three-dimensional T1 image calculation program in proportion to the DICOM data of any marketing clinical MRI systems

Contrast media such as gadolinium-diethlene-triamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-DTPA) is used for MRI. Recently there have been some reports about diagnosis using contrast media for the MRI T-1 image for the quantitative evaluation of articular cartilage degeneration. This may be a useful method to evaluate the lesion of the articular cartilage or to confirm therapeutic progress. Whether or not contrast is used, the use of the calculated T-1 image is effective for the quantitative evaluation of the degeneration of knee joint cartilage. However, our system copes with the format of every MRI image even if software of the calculated T-1 image isn't often prepared in the commercial MRI device. So, we developed general purpose image data processing software that can be processed on the preexisting three-dimensional image data processing system. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.