Application of a three-point method for water-fat MR imaging in children.
BACKGROUND
Effective fat suppression is desirable in clinical magnetic resonance imaging. Conventional frequency selective fat suppression is dependent on accurate prescan shimming and is subject to artifacts due to magnetic field inhomogeneity. Quadrature three-point water-fat imaging with direct phase encoding is an alternative technique for fat suppression that has been previously described in adult volunteers and patients.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the use of three-point water-fat imaging with direct phase encoding for fat-suppressed MR scans in children.


METHODS
Sixty-two three-point water-fat imaging studies were performed in 55 children 2 months to 18 years old. T 1-weighted fat-suppressed (water) images from this sequence were compared with frequency selective fat-suppressed images obtained in 15 patients. The reliability and subjective quality of the sequence were assessed in the remaining 47 cases.


RESULTS
High-quality fat suppression was achieved in all anatomic sites studied, even where frequency selective fat-suppression failed due to magnetic susceptibility artifact. The three-point water-fat sequence was visually preferred to the frequency selective fat saturation technique in 15/15 cases.


CONCLUSIONS
Three-point water-fat imaging has replaced the conventional frequency selective technique for fat suppression on T 1-weighted MR imaging at our institution.
Sargent
M A
MA
Department of Radiology, Children's And Women's Health Centre of British Columbia, 4500 Oak Street, Vancouver, BC V6H 3N1, Canada.
Poskitt
K J
KJ
Xiang
Q S
QS
An
L
L
D000273:Adipose Tissue; D000293:Adolescent; D016477:Artifacts; D001834:Body Water; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007592:Joint Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012983:Soft Tissue Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*