Transition into driven equilibrium of the balanced steady-state free precession as an ultrafast multisection T2-weighted imaging of the brain.
OBJECTIVE
Current T2-weighted imaging takes >3 minutes to perform, for which the ultrafast transition into driven equilibrium (TIDE) technique may be potentially helpful. This study qualitatively and quantitatively evaluates the imaging of transition into driven equilibrium of the balanced steady-state free precession (TIDE) compared with TSE and turbo gradient spin-echo on T2-weighted MR images.


METHODS
Thirty healthy volunteers were examined with T2-weighted images by using TIDE, TSE, and turbo gradient spin-echo sequences. Imaging was evaluated qualitatively by 2 independent observers on the basis of a 4-point rating scale regarding contrast characteristics and artifacts behavior. Image SNR and contrast-to-noise ratio were quantitatively assessed.


RESULTS
TIDE provided T2-weighted contrast similar to that in TSE and turbo gradient spin-echo with only one-eighth of the scan time. TIDE showed gray-white matter differentiation and iron-load sensitivity inferior that of TSE and turbo gradient spin-echo, but with improved motion artifacts reduction on qualitative scores. Nonmotion ghosting artifacts were uniquely found in TIDE images. The overall SNRs of TSE were 1.9-2.0 times those of turbo gradient spin-echo and 1.7-2.2 times of those of TIDE for brain tissue (P < .0001). TIDE had a higher contrast-to-noise ratio than TSE (P = .169) and turbo gradient spin-echo (P < .0001) regarding non-iron-containing gray matter versus white matter. TIDE had a lower contrast-to-noise ratio than turbo gradient spin-echo and TSE (P < .0001) between iron-containing gray matter and white matter.


CONCLUSIONS
TIDE provides T2-weighted images with reduced scan times and reduced motion artifacts compared with TSE and turbo gradient spin-echo with the trade-off of reduced SNR and poorer gray-white matter differentiation.
From the Department of Electrical Engineering (Y.-C.K.H., T.-S.K.), National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of ChinaDepartment of Radiology (Y.-C.K.H., C.-J.H., H.-W.K, C.-W.W., H.-H. H., C.-J.J.), Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Y-C K
YC
Huang
Department of Electrical Engineering (T.-Y.H.), National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan, Republic of China.
T-Y
TY
Huang
Graduate Institute of Design Science (H.-C.C.), Tatung University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
H-C
HC
Chiu
From the Department of Electrical Engineering (Y.-C.K.H., T.-S.K.), National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
T-S
TS
Kuo
Department of Radiology (Y.-C.K.H., C.-J.H., H.-W.K, C.-W.W., H.-H. H., C.-J.J.), Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of ChinaDepartment of Radiology (C.-J.H., H.-W.K, C.-W.W., H.-H. H., C.-J.J.), National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
C-J
CJ
Hsueh
Department of Radiology (Y.-C.K.H., C.-J.H., H.-W.K, C.-W.W., H.-H. H., C.-J.J.), Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of ChinaDepartment of Radiology (C.-J.H., H.-W.K, C.-W.W., H.-H. H., C.-J.J.), National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
H-W
HW
Kao
Department of Radiology (Y.-C.K.H., C.-J.H., H.-W.K, C.-W.W., H.-H. H., C.-J.J.), Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of ChinaDepartment of Radiology (C.-J.H., H.-W.K, C.-W.W., H.-H. H., C.-J.J.), National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
C-W
CW
Wang
Department of Radiology (Y.-C.K.H., C.-J.H., H.-W.K, C.-W.W., H.-H. H., C.-J.J.), Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of ChinaDepartment of Radiology (C.-J.H., H.-W.K, C.-W.W., H.-H. H., C.-J.J.), National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
H-H
HH
Hsu
Department of Radiology (Y.-C.K.H., C.-J.H., H.-W.K, C.-W.W., H.-H. H., C.-J.J.), Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of ChinaDepartment of Radiology (C.-J.H., H.-W.K, C.-W.W., H.-H. H., C.-J.J.), National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China. peterjuancj@yahoo.com.tw.
C-J
CJ
Juan
D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; 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