title: Lumbar spine: motion compensation for cerebrospinal fluid on MR imaging.
abstract: To determine whether the motion of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the lumbar spine degrades T2-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) images, a spine phantom, three healthy volunteers, and a prospective series of 20 patients suspected of having lumbar spine disease underwent MR imaging with and without motion-compensation techniques. In the phantom, pulsation amplitudes as low as 3 mm (within the physiologic range of human lumbar CSF motion) reduced image quality on conventional images but not on motion-compensated images. Similar findings were observed in two volunteers and 11 patients. The magnitude of the artifacts was variable; they could impair visualization of the conus, decrease contrast or reduce the sharpness of the CSF-thecal sac interface, and cause focal regions of reduced CSF signal intensity adjacent to bulging disks. Image quality was most improved when peripheral gating was combined with even-echo rephasing. In the patient group, the use of motion-compensation techniques increased the CSF signal-to-noise ratio by an average of 29% (P less than .01); this resulted in improved contrast between the conus and extradural structures. The data suggest that CSF motion compensation is clinically useful during T2-weighted MR imaging of the lumbar spine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Stanford University Medical Center, CA 94305.
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Rubin
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Enzmann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002555:Cerebrospinal Fluid; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007403:Intervertebral Disc; D007405:Intervertebral Disc Displacement / Q000175:diagnosis; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008961:Models, Structural; D013122:Spinal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*