title: Liver masses: replacement of conventional T2-weighted spin-echo MR imaging with breath-hold MR imaging.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate breath-hold magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with single-shot and multishot T2-weighted fast spin-echo (SE) and inversion-recovery (IR) SE echo-planar (EP) SE (IR-SE-EP) sequences compared with conventional T2-weighted SE imaging for detection of liver masses.
  
  
  METHODS
  Imaging with all sequences was performed in 32 patients on a 1.5-T whole-body system. Images were compared on the basis of lesion-to-liver contrast-to-noise ratio (C/N), lesion conspicuity, and image quality. Image analysis was performed by two experienced radiologists in consensus.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Lesion-to-liver C/Ns were highest on fat-suppressed-half-Fourier-single-shot-fast-SE images. For solid lesions, the lesion-to-liver C/Ns were highest with IR-fast-SE, which was significantly better (P < .05) than IR-SE-EP and conventional SE techniques and also produced the best image quality. Sensitivity with IR-fast-SE was 96%; with fat-suppressed-half-Fourier-single-shot-fast-SE, 92%; with fat-suppressed-fast-SE, 89%; with IR-SE-EP, 83%; and with conventional SE, 78%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  T2-weighted breath-hold imaging, particularly IR-fast-SE imaging, was more sensitive for hepatic masses than conventional SE imaging, with a substantial reduction in acquisition time. Half-Fourier-single-shot-fast-SE imaging was especially useful in patients who were unable to hold their breath.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gaa
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hatabu
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Jenkins
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Finn
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Edelman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016477:Artifacts; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D017352:Echo-Planar Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000556:secondary; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012119:Respiration; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013997:Time Factors