Spiral gradient echo versus cartesian turbo spin echo imaging for sagittal contrast-enhanced fat-suppressed
T1 weighted spine MRI: an inter-individual comparison study.
Br J Radiol 2022;
95:20210354. [PMID:
34762522 PMCID:
PMC10996313 DOI:
10.1259/bjr.20210354]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2021] [Revised: 07/22/2021] [Accepted: 10/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES
To compare a novel 3D spiral gradient echo (GRE) sequence with a conventional 2D cartesian turbo spin echo (TSE) sequence for sagittal contrast-enhanced (CE) fat-suppressed (FS) T1 weighted (T1W) spine MRI.
METHODS
In this inter-individual comparison study, 128 patients prospectively underwent sagittal CE FS T1W spine MRI with either a 2D cartesian TSE ("TSE", 285 s, 64 patients) or a 3D spiral GRE sequence ("Spiral", 93 s, 64 patients). Between both groups, patients were matched in terms of anatomical region (cervical/thoracic/lumbar spine and sacrum). Three readers used 4-point Likert scales to assess images qualitatively in terms of overall image quality, presence of artifacts, spinal cord visualization, lesion conspicuity and quality of fat suppression.
RESULTS
Spiral achieved a 67.4% scan time reduction compared to TSE. Interreader agreement was high (alpha=0.868-1). Overall image quality (4;[3,4] vs 3;[3,4], p<0.001 - p=0.002 for all readers), presence of artifacts (4;[3,4] vs 3;[3,4] p=0.027 - p=0.046 for all readers), spinal cord visualization (4;[4,4] vs 4;[3,4], p<0.001 for all readers), lesion conspicuity (4;[4,4] vs 4;[4,4], p=0.016 for all readers) and quality of fat suppression (4;[4,4] vs 4;[4,4], p=0.027 - p=0.033 for all readers), were all deemed significantly improved by all three readers on Spiral images as compared to TSE images.
CONCLUSION
We demonstrate the feasibility of a novel 3D spiral GRE sequence for improved and rapid sagittal CE FS T1W spine MRI.
ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE
A 3D spiral GRE sequence allows for improved sagittal CE FS T1W spine MRI at very short scan times.
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