A comparative analysis of double inversion recovery TFE and TSE sequences on carotid artery wall imaging.
OBJECTIVE
To analyze the characteristics of double inversion recovery (DIR) turbo field echo (TFE) and turbo spin echo (TSE) sequences and explore the value of double inversion recovery TFE sequence on carotid artery wall imaging.


METHODS
56 patients (32 males and 24 females, aged 31-76 years with a mean age of 53 years) were performed with DIR TFE and DIR TSE T1 weighted imaging (T1WI) sequences on carotid artery bifurcations. Image quality acquired by different techniques were evaluated and scored by two physicians. Whether there is significant difference is determined by SPSS 11.0 software. Paired-samples t test was used for statistics.


RESULTS
There was no significant difference in the image quality scores between two sequences (t = 0.880, P = 0.383 > 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
DIR TFE sequence has short scanning time and high spatial resolution. DIR TFE sequence can be used as the preferred sequence for screening carotid atherosclerotic plaque compared with DIR TSE sequence.
Department of Radiology, Liaocheng People's Hospital and Liaocheng Clinical School of Taishan Medical University, Liaocheng, Shandong 252000, PR China. phoenixcom@sina.com
Jun
J
Chen
Yu-Jin
YJ
Di
Chun-Qing
CQ
Bu
Yan-Feng
YF
Zhang
Shu-Hua
SH
Li
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000465:Algorithms; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000473:pathology*; D016893:Carotid Stenosis / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted