Tomura Noriaki, Saginoya Toshiyuki, Kokubun Mika, Tsuchiya Mario, Yamamoto Teiji
Department of Radiology and Neurology, Research Institute for Neuroscience, Southern Tohoku General Hospital, Fukushima, Japan
Department of Radiology and Neurology, Research Institute for Neuroscience, Southern Tohoku General Hospital, Fukushima, Japan.
Acta Radiol. 2015 Oct;56(10):1242-7. doi: 10.1177/0284185114552292. Epub 2014 Oct 15.
Short TI inversion-recovery (STIR) imaging is widely used, but its signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) is relatively low. Iterative decomposition of water and fat with echo asymmetric and least-squares estimation (IDEAL) imaging has demonstrated promising results in several areas.
To compare T2-weighted fast spin-echo IDEAL (T2W IDEAL-FSE) with STIR to determine which sequence is superior to image the brachial plexus.
The brachial plexus was imaged in 18 patients and six volunteers. The patients' diseases comprised of: suspected chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), brachial plexus palsy of unknown origin, and suspected amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Frontal partial MIP images were acquired. Image quality was qualitatively and independently scored by two radiologists on a three-point grading scale for noise, visibility of the nerve roots, and overall image quality. Inter-observer agreement of the rating by two readers was assessed. The SNR and contrast-to-noise-ratio (CNR) were quantitatively calculated, and differences between T2W IDEAL-FSE and STIR were compared.
Qualitatively, each score for T2W IDEAL-FSE was significantly higher (P < 0.01) than that for STIR. Quantitatively, both SNR and CNR for T2W IDEAL-FSE (45.3 ± 12.6 and 27.1 ± 12.1, respectively) were significantly higher (P < 0.001) than those for STIR (17.4 ± 6.1 and 8.2 ± 4.7, respectively).
T2W IDEAL-FSE could be used to replace STIR for visualization of the brachial plexus.
短TI反转恢复（STIR）成像被广泛应用，但其信噪比（SNR）相对较低。基于回波不对称和最小二乘估计的水脂迭代分解（IDEAL）成像在多个领域已显示出有前景的结果。
比较T2加权快速自旋回波IDEAL（T2W IDEAL-FSE）与STIR，以确定哪种序列在臂丛神经成像方面更具优势。
对18例患者和6名志愿者的臂丛神经进行成像。患者的疾病包括：疑似慢性炎症性脱髓鞘性多发性神经病（CIDP）、不明原因的臂丛神经麻痹以及疑似肌萎缩侧索硬化症。获取了额部部分MIP图像。由两名放射科医生对图像质量进行定性且独立评分，评分采用三点分级量表，评估噪声、神经根的可见性和整体图像质量。评估两位读者评分的观察者间一致性。定量计算SNR和对比噪声比（CNR），并比较T2W IDEAL-FSE与STIR之间的差异。
定性方面，T2W IDEAL-FSE的各项评分均显著高于STIR（P < 0.01）。定量方面，T2W IDEAL-FSE的SNR和CNR（分别为45.3±12.6和27.1±12.1）均显著高于STIR（分别为17.4±6.1和8.2±4.7）（P < 0.001）。
T2W IDEAL-FSE可用于替代STIR来显示臂丛神经。
