MRI of the spleen: normal appearance and findings in sickle-cell anemia.

The MRI appearance and characteristics of the normal and diseased spleen were prospectively evaluated using spin-echo imaging with a superconducting magnet operating at 0.35 T. Sixty normal patients and 13 patients with sickle-cell anemia involving the spleen were studied. The normal spleen was isointense or slightly more intense than liver at a repetition time of 0.5 sec. At a longer repetition time (TR 2.0 sec), the normal spleen was usually more intense than liver, becoming markedly hyperintense compared to liver on relatively T2-weighted images (TR 2.0 sec, TE 56 msec). All patients with sickle-cell anemia showed abnormally diminished signal intensity of the spleen.