title: Comparison of fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery MR imaging with CT in a simulated model of acute subarachnoid hemorrhage.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Because MR imaging is becoming integral to the evaluation and treatment of very early stroke, it is critical to prove that MR imaging is at least as sensitive to acute subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) as is CT. The present study was conducted to evaluate the possibility of detecting a small amount of acute SAH diluted by CSF not revealed by CT but identified on fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery (FLAIR) MR images in an in vitro study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Acute SAH was simulated with mixtures of artificial CSF and arterial blood (hematocrit [Hct], 45%) ranging from 0% to 100% by volume. We scanned these phantoms with CT and turbo-FLAIR MR imaging (9000/119 [TR/effective TE]; inversion time, 2200 ms; echo train length, 7), and we measured T1 and T2 relaxation times of these phantoms at temperatures within 36 degrees C to 37 degrees C. Plots of CT value from the different blood/water mixture ratios versus Hct were generated and correlated with the average CT value from normal cortex. We measured T1 and T2 relaxation times of these phantoms and normal cortex and generated T2 relaxation curves as a function of effective TE for a specific inversion time (2200), and determined the TR (9000) for the turbo-FLAIR sequence by using a theoretical equation for the turbo inversion recovery signal intensity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Above a Hct of 27% blood, the mixture was denser on CT scans than was the normal cortex. At a selected time longer than an effective TE of 120, above a Hct of 22.4% blood, the mixture was more hyperintense than the normal cortex on turbo-FLAIR images. At selected times longer than an effective TE of 160, above a Hct of 9% blood, the mixture was more hyperintense than was the normal cortex.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  FLAIR imaging is more sensitive than CT in the detection of a small amount of acute SAH diluted by CSF at selected appropriate TE, as determined in an in vitro study.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Toyama Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Toyama City, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Noguchi
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Seto
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kamisaki
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tomizawa
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Toyoshima
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Watanabe
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013345:Subarachnoid Hemorrhage / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed