Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 22 S Greene St, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2011 Aug;197(2):W307-13. doi: 10.2214/AJR.10.5918.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of BLADE (proprietary name for periodically rotated overlapping parallel lines with enhanced reconstruction [PROPELLER] in MR systems from Siemens Healthcare) MRI compared with conventional T2-weighted fast spin-echo (FSE) MRI for reducing artifacts and improving image quality when imaging the female pelvis.
Sagittal T2-weighted BLADE and FSE examinations of the pelvis of 26 women were performed on a 1.5-T scanner. Three radiologists assessed the images for the presence of artifacts, level of anatomic detail, and overall image quality using a modified Likert scale. Scores for each radiologist and each imaging sequence were analyzed with a linear mixed model, adjusting for correlation within radiologist and within patient. A quantitative comparison was conducted to investigate signal uniformity.
The BLADE sequence was superior for evaluation of the junctional zone (p = 0.0019), delineation of ovarian borders and depiction of follicles (p < 0.0001), and detection of fibroids (p = 0.022). Overall image quality was improved with BLADE, with fewer respiratory motion artifacts. The BLADE sequence introduced "radial" artifact that was absent from the FSE images, but this artifact did not affect image quality. Quantitative analysis revealed mean coefficients of variation for BLADE and FSE in the uterus of 21.6% and 22.5%, respectively (p = 0.36). The mean coefficients of variation were 4.6% and 6.1% in fat (p = 0.0007), indicating less variation with BLADE. The mean acquisition times for the BLADE and FSE sequences were 4 minutes 31 seconds and 3 minutes 46 seconds, respectively.
Imaging of uterine junctional zone anatomy, ovaries, and fibroids was improved and artifacts were reduced with BLADE compared with FSE. Radial artifact introduced by the BLADE sequence and slightly longer imaging times needed for the BLADE sequence were offset by improved image quality.
本研究旨在评估 BLADE（西门子医疗的 PROPELLER 磁共振系统中周期性旋转重叠平行线增强重建的专有名称）MRI 与常规 T2 加权快速自旋回波（FSE）MRI 相比，在成像女性骨盆时减少伪影和提高图像质量的效果。
在 1.5T 扫描仪上对 26 名女性进行矢状 T2 加权 BLADE 和 FSE 盆腔检查。三位放射科医生使用改良的李克特量表评估图像中的伪影、解剖细节水平和整体图像质量。对每位放射科医生和每个成像序列的评分进行线性混合模型分析，调整放射科医生内和患者内的相关性。进行定量比较以研究信号均匀性。
BLADE 序列在评估交界区（p = 0.0019）、卵巢边界的描绘和卵泡的显示（p < 0.0001）以及肌瘤的检测（p = 0.022）方面更优。BLADE 还可改善整体图像质量，减少呼吸运动伪影。BLADE 序列引入了 FSE 图像中不存在的“放射状”伪影，但该伪影不会影响图像质量。定量分析显示 BLADE 和 FSE 在子宫中的平均变异系数分别为 21.6%和 22.5%（p = 0.36）。脂肪中的平均变异系数分别为 4.6%和 6.1%（p = 0.0007），表明 BLADE 的变异更小。BLADE 和 FSE 序列的平均采集时间分别为 4 分 31 秒和 3 分 46 秒。
与 FSE 相比，BLADE 可改善子宫交界区解剖结构、卵巢和肌瘤的成像，并减少伪影。BLADE 序列引入的放射状伪影和稍微更长的 BLADE 序列成像时间被改善的图像质量所抵消。
