Contrast enhancement of intracranial lesions at 1.5 T: comparison among 2D spin echo, black-blood (BB) Cube, and BB Cube-FLAIR sequences.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to investigate the usefulness of T1W black-blood Cube (BB Cube) and T1W BB Cube fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (BB Cube-FLAIR) sequences for contrast-enhanced brain imaging, by evaluating flow-related artefacts, detectability, and contrast ratio (CR) of intracranial lesions among these sequences and T1W-SE.


METHODS
Phantom studies were performed to determine the optimal parameters of BB Cube and BB Cube-FLAIR. A clinical study in 23 patients with intracranial lesions was performed to evaluate the usefulness of these two sequences for the diagnosis of intracranial lesions compared with the conventional 2D T1W-SE sequence.


RESULTS
The phantom study revealed that the optimal parameters for contrast-enhanced T1W imaging were TR/TE = 500 ms/minimum in BB Cube and TR/TE/TI = 600 ms/minimum/300 ms in BB Cube-FLAIR imaging. In the clinical study, the degree of flow-related artefacts was significantly lower in BB Cube and BB Cube-FLAIR than in T1W-SE. Regarding tumour detection, BB Cube showed the best detectability; however, there were no significant differences in CR among the sequences.


CONCLUSIONS
At 1.5 T, contrast-enhanced BB Cube was a better imaging sequence for detecting brain lesions than T1W-SE or BB Cube-FLAIR.


CONCLUSIONS
• Cube is a single-slab 3D FSE imaging sequence. • We applied a black-blood (BB) imaging technique to T1W Cube. • At 1.5 T, contrast-enhanced T1W BB Cube was valuable for detecting brain lesions.
Department of Radiology, Kinki University Faculty of Medicine, 377-2 Ohno-Higashi, Osaka-Sayama, Osaka, 589-8511, Japan. im@radiol.med.kindai.ac.jp.
SungWoon
S
Im
Department of Radiology, Kinki University Faculty of Medicine, 377-2 Ohno-Higashi, Osaka-Sayama, Osaka, 589-8511, Japan.
Ryuichiro
R
Ashikaga
Department of Radiology, Kinki University Faculty of Medicine, 377-2 Ohno-Higashi, Osaka-Sayama, Osaka, 589-8511, Japan.
Yukinobu
Y
Yagyu
MR Applications and Workflow, Asia Pacific, GE Healthcare Japan, 4-7-127, Asahigaoka, Hino, 191-8503, Tokyo, Japan.
Tetsuya
T
Wakayama
MR Applications and Workflow, Asia Pacific, GE Healthcare Japan, 4-7-127, Asahigaoka, Hino, 191-8503, Tokyo, Japan.
Mitsuharu
M
Miyoshi
Department of Radiology, Kinki University Faculty of Medicine, 377-2 Ohno-Higashi, Osaka-Sayama, Osaka, 589-8511, Japan.
Tomoko
T
Hyodo
Department of Radiology, Kinki University Faculty of Medicine, 377-2 Ohno-Higashi, Osaka-Sayama, Osaka, 589-8511, Japan.
Izumi
I
Imaoka
Department of Radiology, Kinki University Faculty of Medicine, 377-2 Ohno-Higashi, Osaka-Sayama, Osaka, 589-8511, Japan.
Seishi
S
Kumano
Department of Radiology, Kinki University Faculty of Medicine, 377-2 Ohno-Higashi, Osaka-Sayama, Osaka, 589-8511, Japan.
Kazunari
K
Ishii
Department of Radiology, Kinki University Faculty of Medicine, 377-2 Ohno-Higashi, Osaka-Sayama, Osaka, 589-8511, Japan.
Takamichi
T
Murakami
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016477:Artifacts; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000556:secondary; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D003287:Contrast Media; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging
D003287:Contrast Media; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA
3D fast spin-echo (FSE); Contrast enhancement; Cube; Magnetic resonance imaging; black-blood (BB) imaging