Usefulness of IDEAL T2 Imaging for Homogeneous Fat Suppression and Reducing Susceptibility Artefacts in Brachial Plexus MRI at 3.0 T

Overview

Journal Radiol Med

Specialty Radiology

Date 2015 Aug 9

PMID 26253383

Citations 5

Authors

Alberto Tagliafico

Bianca Bignotti

Giulio Tagliafico

Carlo Martinoli

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Purpose: 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.

Materials And 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).

Conclusion: 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.

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