Ho Michael, Becker Anton, Ulbrich Erika, Manoliu Andrei, Kuhn Félix P, Eberhard Matthias, Filli Lukas
Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Department of Neuroradiology, University Hospital Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
Heliyon. 2018 Oct 16;4(10):e00853. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e00853. eCollection 2018 Oct.
To compare conventional single-shot echo planar imaging (ss-EPI) and simultaneous multi-slice (SMS) readout-segmented EPI (rs-EPI) for magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) of the ulnar nerve.
This study was approved by the local ethics committee. Ten healthy volunteers (mean age 30.4 ± 4.01 years; range 25-36 years) underwent 3T DTI of the ulnar nerve at the level of the cubital tunnel. DTI was performed based on ss-EPI as well as SMS rs-EPI sequences. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), image quality, and DTI parameters in the ulnar nerve (fractional anisotropy, FA; mean diffusivity, MD) were compared between the two sequences by two independent radiologists.
Acquisition time was 5:12 min for ss-EPI and 5:18 min for SMS rs-EPI. Between the two sequences, no significant differences were found for derived DTI measures FA (p = 0.11) and MD values (p = 0.93). Compared to conventional ss-EPI, SMS rs-EPI yielded significantly less ghosting artifacts (p = 0.04) but inferior nerve depiction (p = 0.001) and worse overall image quality (p = 0.008).
SMS rs-EPI is not advantageous over ss-EPI in DTI of the ulnar nerve at the level of the cubital tunnel.
比较传统单次激发回波平面成像（ss-EPI）和同时多切片（SMS）读出分段回波平面成像（rs-EPI）用于尺神经的磁共振扩散张量成像（DTI）。
本研究经当地伦理委员会批准。10名健康志愿者（平均年龄30.4±4.01岁；范围25 - 36岁）在肘管水平接受了尺神经的3T DTI检查。基于ss-EPI以及SMS rs-EPI序列进行DTI检查。由两名独立的放射科医生比较两种序列在尺神经中的信噪比（SNR）、图像质量和DTI参数（分数各向异性，FA；平均扩散率，MD）。
ss-EPI的采集时间为5:12分钟，SMS rs-EPI的采集时间为5:18分钟。在两种序列之间，推导的DTI测量值FA（p = 0.11）和MD值（p = 0.93）未发现显著差异。与传统的ss-EPI相比，SMS rs-EPI产生的鬼影伪影明显更少（p = 0.04），但神经显示较差（p = 0.001），整体图像质量更差（p = 0.008）。
在肘管水平的尺神经DTI中，SMS rs-EPI并不优于ss-EPI。
