title: Can homogeneous preparation encoding (HoPE) help reduce scan time in abdominal MRI? A clinical evaluation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate time efficiency, image quality, and diagnostic value of a clinical routine homogeneous preparation encoding (HoPE) imaging protocol in different malign and inflammatory abdominal conditions.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 14 healthy volunteers and 40 patients were examined after written informed consent and approval of the local ethics committee. A standard abdominal T1-weighted (T1W) fat-saturated gradient-echo protocol was compared to the HoPE sequence protocol ensuring for comparable imaging parameters. Examinations were performed on a 1.5-T Siemens Avanto equipped with a multichannel body-array coil. Image analysis was performed with respect to contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), level of fat suppression (FS), generation of artifacts, and overall image quality by two blinded radiologists.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In addition to comparable results in overall image quality and FS level, the HoPE sequence protocol provided a reduction in acquisition time of up to 40%. In addition, artifact generation was same or even reduced with respect to pulsation. Quantitative SNR analysis showed strong correlation between HoPE and the conventional method.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The HoPE technique is a feasible and time-saving alternative for clinical abdominal MRI. Future studies will have to be conducted on larger patient collectives to strengthen the impact of this promising technique for FS imaging and to prove its accuracy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Radiology - Medical Physics, University Hospital Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany. dominik.paul@uniklinik-freiburg.de
authors.forename: Dominik
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Paul
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Frydrychowicz
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Walcher
authors.forename: Hans-Peter
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Fautz
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hennig
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Langer
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Schäfer
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen / Q000473:pathology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016477:Artifacts; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007249:Inflammation; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results