title: Usefulness of IDEAL T2 imaging for homogeneous fat suppression and reducing susceptibility artefacts in brachial plexus MRI at 3.0 T.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To quantitatively and qualitatively compare fat-suppressed MR imaging quality using iterative decomposition of water and fat with echo asymmetry and least-squares estimation (IDEAL) with that using frequency-selective fat-suppressed (FSFS) T2 images of the brachial plexus at 3.0 T.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective MR image analysis was performed in 40 volunteers and 40 patients at a single centre. Oblique-sagittal and coronal IDEAL fat-suppressed T2 images and FSFS T2 images were compared. Visual assessment was performed by two independent musculoskeletal radiologists with respect to: (1) susceptibility artefacts around the neck, (2) homogeneity of fat suppression, (3) image sharpness and (4) tissue resolution contrast of pathologies. The signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) for each image sequence were assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to FSFS sequences, IDEAL fat-suppressed T2 images significantly reduced artefacts around the brachial plexus and significantly improved homogeneous fat suppression (p < 0.05). IDEAL significantly improved sharpness and lesion-to-tissue contrast (p < 0.05). The mean SNRs were significantly improved on T2-weighted IDEAL images (p < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  IDEAL technique improved image quality by reducing artefacts around the brachial plexus while maintaining a high SNR and provided superior homogeneous fat suppression than FSFS sequences.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Medicine (DIMES), Institute of Anatomy, University of Genoa, Via de Toni 14, 16132, Genoa, Italy. atagliafico@sirm.org.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tagliafico
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences (DISSAL), University of Genoa, Via Pastore 2, 16132, Genoa, Italy. bignottibianca@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Bianca
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bignotti
authors.affiliation: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Matematica Applicata e Tecnologie, Via De Marini 6, 16149, Genoa, Italy. giu.taglia@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Giulio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tagliafico
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences (DISSAL), University of Genoa, Via Pastore 2, 16132, Genoa, Italy. carlo.martinoli@unige.it.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Martinoli
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016477:Artifacts; D020516:Brachial Plexus Neuropathies / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D059629:Signal-To-Noise Ratio
keywords: Artefact; Brachial plexus; Fat saturation; IDEAL; MRI