Comparison of conventional fast spin echo, single-shot two-dimensional and three-dimensional half-fourier RARE for T2-weighted female pelvic imaging.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the usefulness of the three-dimensional half-Fourier RARE sequence in comparison with single-shot two-dimensional half-Fourier RARE and conventional fast spin echo (FSE) for female pelvic imaging.


METHODS
Imaging with all sequences was performed in 146 patients with 166 focal lesions on a 1.5-T system. The images were compared on the basis of quality, lesion conspicuity, and lesion to the uterus contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR).


RESULTS
The sharpness of intrapelvic organs on the three-dimensional half-Fourier RARE sequence was better than that on two-dimensional half-Fourier RARE and worse than that on FSE. Motion-related artifacts for three-dimensional half-Fourier RARE were more frequent than those for two-dimensional half-Fourier RARE. There was no statistical difference between the three-dimensional half-Fourier RARE sequence and FSE in regard to lesion conspicuity and overall image quality. The CNR of leiomyoma to myometrium and cervical cancer to cervical stroma was the highest with three-dimensional half-Fourier RARE (P< 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The three-dimensional half-Fourier RARE sequence generates images with higher contrast and better image resolution than two-dimensional-RARE. The three-dimensional data set provided images that can be observed in any orientation without acquiring an additional scan by using the multiplanar reconstruction (MPR) method.
Department of Radiology, Miyazaki Medical College, University of Miyazaki, Kiyotake, Miyazaki, Japan. hsugi@med.miyazaki-u.ac.jp
Hiroshi
H
Sugimura
Kenichiro
K
Yamaguchi
Eiji
E
Furukoji
Shozo
S
Tamura
Tatefumi
T
Sakae
Haruyuki
H
Koga
Yoshio
Y
Machida
Shinichi
S
Kitane
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016477:Artifacts; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004715:Endometriosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005833:Genital Neoplasms, Female / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods; D007889:Leiomyoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010048:Ovarian Cysts / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D010388:Pelvis / Q000473:pathology*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric