Objective To investigate the application significance of 3.0T MR three dimensional double-echo steady state(3D-DESS) and three dimensional-true fast imaging with steady-state procession(3D-True FISP) sequences in diagnosis of wrist cartilage of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Methods 26 patients who were clinically diagnosed with RA underwent wrist MR scans with 3D-DESS and 3D-True FISP sequences, while both sequences' scanning were achieved on 20 of them.340 articular-surface morphological conditions' were observed,which were divided into level 0, level 1 and level 2 damages according to morphological performance,and recorded on 3D-DESS and 3D-True FISP sequence respectively.The diagnostic differences in the number of lesions were compared for two sequences.Results The numbers were 79 and 50 for level 1 damage and 23 and 33 for level 2 damage on 3D-DESS and 3D-True FISP sequence respectively (P<0.05).The artifacts were showed in 14 patients on 3D-True FISP,and only two patients on 3D-DESS.Conclusion 3D-DESS sequence does better than 3D-True FISP in displaying RA wrist cartilage,which is able to provide certain help for treatment and prognosis evaluation of RA.