title: Short tau inversion recovery and three-point Dixon water-fat separation sequences in acute traumatic bone fractures at open 0.35 tesla MRI.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Fat suppression can be used to improve the diagnostic confidence in traumatic bone fractures of the extremities. We compared a three-point Dixon "sandwich" water-fat separation (WFS) sequence, resulting in a water-only and a fat-only image set after one excitation, with the STIR sequence on an open 0.35 T superconductive MR system.
  
  
  METHODS
  T1-weighted, STIR (2000/40 [TR/TE]), and WFS (2000/36 [TR/TE]) MR images were prospectively obtained in 27 patients with 40 radiologically diagnosed fractures immediately after first-line treatment. Signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio, contrast-to-noise (C/N) ratio, and bone marrow edema volumes were measured together with qualitative parameters (four-point scale).
  
  
  RESULTS
  WFS was significantly superior to STIR in all quantitative parameters (better S/N ratio, P<0.001; better C/N ratio, P<0.001; larger marrow edema, P <0.023; Wilcoxon signed rank test). Visibility of bone marrow edema, visibility of fracture line, and preservation of anatomical details were better with the WFS sequence ( P<0.001, P<0.001, P<0.001, respectively; ANOVA). Fat saturation was rated more homogeneous, however, with the STIR sequence (not significant; P<0.101).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  On the basis of qualitative and quantitative assessments, the three-point Dixon "sandwich" water-fat separation sequence was consistently superior to the STIR sequence in the delineation of traumatic fractures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Klinikum Augsburg, Stenglinstrasse 2, Germany. w.wohlgemuth@online.de
authors.forename: Walter A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Wohlgemuth
authors.forename: Frank W
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Roemer
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bohndorf
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016477:Artifacts; D001834:Body Water; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D050723:Fractures, Bone / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged