title: Water-silicone separated volumetric MR acquisition for rapid assessment of breast implants.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To develop a robust T(2) -weighted volumetric imaging technique with uniform water-silicone separation and simultaneous fat suppression for rapid assessment of breast implants in a single acquisition.
  
  
  METHODS
  A three-dimensional (3D) fast spin echo sequence that uses variable refocusing flip angles was combined with a three-point chemical-shift technique (IDEAL) and short tau inversion recovery (STIR). Phase shifts of -π/6, +π/2, and +7π/6 between water and silicone were used for IDEAL processing. For comparison, two-dimensional images using 2D-FSE-IDEAL with STIR were also acquired in axial, coronal, and sagittal orientations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Near-isotropic (true spatial resolution-0.9 × 1.3 × 2.0 mm(3) ) volumetric breast images with uniform water-silicone separation and simultaneous fat suppression were acquired successfully in clinically feasible scan times (7:00-10:00 min). The 2D images were acquired with the same in-plane resolution (0.9 × 1.3 mm(2) ), but the slice thickness was increased to 6 mm with a slice gap of 1 mm for complete coverage of the implants in a reasonable scan time, which varied between 18:00 and 22:30 min.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The single volumetric acquisition with uniform water and silicone separation enables images to be reformatted into any orientation. This allows comprehensive assessment of breast implant integrity in less than 10 min of total examination time.
authors.affiliation: Global Applied Science Lab, GE Healthcare, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. ananth.madhuranthakam@ge.com
authors.forename: Ananth J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Madhuranthakam
authors.forename: Martin P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Huanzhou
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shimakawa
authors.forename: Scott B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Reeder
authors.forename: Neil M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Rofsky
authors.forename: Charles A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: McKenzie
authors.forename: Jean H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Brittain
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D000328:Adult; D001940:Breast / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D018427:Breast Implants; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D020034:Silicone Gels; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D020034:Silicone Gels; D014867:Water