title: Improving the detectability of focal liver lesions on T2-weighted MR images: ultrafast breath-hold or respiratory-triggered thin-section MRI?
abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine whether a respiratory-triggered (RT) T2-weighted turbo spin-echo (TSE) sequence with thin section can improve the detectability of focal liver lesions compared to a breath-hold (BH) T2-weighted TSE sequence. In 25 patients an RT TSE with 8-mm sections (8-TSE RT) and 5-mm sections (5-TSE RT) and a BH TSE sequence with 8-mm sections (8-TSE BH) were performed. Forty-one focal liver lesions (mean: 1.8 +/- 1.2 cm; 14 lesions < or =1 cm; 27 lesions >1 cm) were evaluated. The 5-TSE RT was significantly better in lesion detection compared to the 8-TSE BH sequence for all sizes of lesions (40/41 vs. 33/41; P = 0.014). For lesions >1 cm no relevant differences in the detection rate of the sequences were found (8-TSE RT, 26/27; 5-TSE RT, 26/27; 8-TSE BH, 25/27), for lesions < or =1 cm the 5-TSE RT provided significantly better sensitivity than the 8-TSE BH (14/14 vs. 8/14, P = 0.015). The results of this study suggest that lesion detection could be significantly improved by using an RT TSE sequence with thin sections compared with a BH TSE sequence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany. pauleit@web.de
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pauleit
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Textor
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bachmann
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Conrad
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Flacke
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kreft
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schild
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology*; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000556:secondary; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012119:Respiration; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity