Liver: T2-weighted MR imaging with breath-hold fast-recovery optimized fast spin-echo compared with breath-hold half-Fourier and non-breath-hold respiratory-triggered fast spin-echo pulse sequences.
At liver magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in 38 patients, a breath-hold T2-weighted fast spin-echo (SE) pulse sequence optimized with fast recovery was compared with a conventional respiratory-triggered fast SE sequence and a breath-hold single-shot fast SE sequence. Mean signal-to-noise ratios for liver and contrast-to-noise ratios for hepatic lesions were higher with the breath-hold fast-recovery fast SE sequence than with the respiratory-triggered fast SE sequence (P <.05). Breath-hold fast-recovery images displayed better lesion clarity than did single-shot fast SE images (P <.05) and fewer image artifacts than did respiratory-triggered fast SE images (P <.05). The ability to determine lesion size and the overall image quality was best with the breath-hold fast-recovery sequence (P <.05). These results may justify use of the breath-hold fast-recovery fast SE pulse sequence for first-line T2-weighted MR imaging of the liver.
Augui
Joelle
J
Department of Radiology, Université René Descartes, Hôpital Cochin, 27 rue du Fg Saint Jacques, 75679 Paris Cedex 14, France.
Vignaux
Olivier
O
Argaud
Christophe
C
Coste
Joel
J
Gouya
Hervé
H
Legmann
Paul
P
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric