From the Department of Radiology (D.S., H.H., D.J., J.H., P.Y., D.C.), First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China.
Department of Radiology (D.S., H.H., D.J., J.H., P.Y., D.C), National Regional Medical Center, Binhai Campus of the First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, P.R. China.
AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2024 Aug 9;45(8):1128-1134. doi: 10.3174/ajnr.A8273.
Visualization of the extracranial trigeminal nerve is crucial to detect nerve pathologic alterations. This study aimed to evaluate visualization of the extracranial trigeminal nerve using 3D inversion recovery TSE with an improved motion-sensitized driven equilibrium (iMSDE) pulse.
In this prospective study, 35 subjects underwent imaging of the trigeminal nerve using conventional 3D inversion recovery TSE, 3D inversion recovery TSE with an iMSDE pulse, and contrast-enhanced 3D inversion recovery TSE. The visibility of 7 extracranial branches of the trigeminal nerve, venous/muscle suppression, and identification of the relationship between nerves and lesions were scored on a 5-point scale system. In addition, SNR, nerve-muscle contrast ratio, nerve-venous contrast ratio, nerve-muscle contrast-to-noise ratio, and nerve-venous contrast-to-noise ratio were calculated and compared.
Images acquired with iMSDE 3D inversion recovery TSE had significantly higher nerve-muscle contrast ratio, nerve-venous contrast ratio, and nerve-to-venous contrast-to-noise ratio (all < .001); improved venous/muscle suppression and clearer visualization of the trigeminal nerve branches except the ophthalmic nerve than with conventional 3D inversion recovery TSE (all < .05). Compared with contrast-enhanced 3D inversion recovery TSE, images acquired with iMSDE 3D inversion recovery TSE had significantly higher SNR, nerve-muscle contrast ratio, and nerve-to-venous contrast-to-noise ratio (all < .05) and demonstrated comparable diagnostic quality (scores ≥3) of the maxillary nerve, mandibular nerve, inferior alveolar nerve, lingual nerve, and masseteric nerve (> .05). As for the identification of the relationship between nerves and lesions, iMSDE 3D inversion recovery TSE showed the highest scores among these 3 sequences (all < .05).
The iMSDE 3D inversion recovery TSE is a promising alternative to conventional 3D inversion recovery TSE and contrast-enhanced 3D inversion recovery TSE for visualization of the extracranial branches of trigeminal nerve in clinical practice.
对外展神经的可视化对于检测神经病理改变至关重要。本研究旨在评估使用三维反转恢复 TSE 联合改进的运动敏感驱动平衡（iMSDE）脉冲对外展神经进行可视化的效果。
在这项前瞻性研究中，35 名受试者接受了常规三维反转恢复 TSE、带 iMSDE 脉冲的三维反转恢复 TSE 和对比增强三维反转恢复 TSE 成像，对 7 条外展神经分支的可视性、静脉/肌肉抑制以及神经与病变之间的关系进行了 5 分制评分。此外，还计算并比较了 SNR、神经-肌肉对比度比、神经-静脉对比度比、神经-肌肉对比噪声比和神经-静脉对比噪声比。
iMSDE 三维反转恢复 TSE 采集的图像具有更高的神经-肌肉对比度比、神经-静脉对比度比和神经-静脉对比噪声比（均<.001）；与常规三维反转恢复 TSE 相比，静脉/肌肉抑制效果更好，除了眼神经外，其他各分支的可视化效果也更清晰（均<.05）。与对比增强三维反转恢复 TSE 相比，iMSDE 三维反转恢复 TSE 采集的图像具有更高的 SNR、神经-肌肉对比度比和神经-静脉对比噪声比（均<.05），且上颌神经、下颌神经、下牙槽神经、舌神经和咬肌神经的诊断质量（评分≥3）相当（>.05）。在神经与病变之间关系的识别方面，iMSDE 三维反转恢复 TSE 在这 3 种序列中得分最高（均<.05）。
iMSDE 三维反转恢复 TSE 是一种有前途的替代方法，可用于常规三维反转恢复 TSE 和对比增强三维反转恢复 TSE，用于临床实践中外展神经颅外分支的可视化。
