title: Short tau inversion recovery fast spin-echo (fast STIR) imaging of the spinal cord in multiple sclerosis.
abstract: The short tau inversion recovery fast spin-echo pulse sequence (fast STIR) combines the synergistic T1 and T2 contrast mechanism of conventional STIR with the reduced imaging time of fast spin-echo (FSE). We have compared fast STIR with T2-weighted FSE in evaluating the spinal cord lesions in 17 patients with multiple sclerosis and 12 healthy controls. Intrinsic lesions were seen only in patients. Twenty-five of the 58 lesions identified were more clearly demonstrated by fast STIR, 22 by FSE. Signal-to-noise and contrast-to-noise ratios were higher in all cases on FSE, suggesting other mechanisms, in particular choice of window settings and brightness of surrounding structures, must play a part in lesion conspicuousness. Fast STIR is a useful adjunct to FSE in the evaluation of multiple sclerosis in the spinal cord.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neurology, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, UK.
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Thorpe
authors.forename: D G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: MacManus
authors.forename: B E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Kendall
authors.forename: P S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Tofts
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Barker
authors.forename: W I
authors.initials: WI
authors.lastname: McDonald
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D016477:Artifacts; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000473:pathology*; D013382:Subtraction Technique