Lin Sheng-Qing, Fonseca Sebastian, Andrew Dhilip, Udayakumar Durga, Silva Flavio Duarte, Chhabra Avneesh, Madhuranthakam Ananth J
Department of Radiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA.
Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA.
Skeletal Radiol. 2025 Apr 12. doi: 10.1007/s00256-025-04925-2.
To improve tissue contrast visualization in water-only images from two-point turbo spin-echo (TSE) Dixon MRI using dark-fat image processing and evaluate in retrospectively acquired clinical knee images.
Clinical knee MRI datasets from 36 patients were retrospectively compiled under IRB approval. The dark-fat water-only images were generated and compared with the conventional water-only images from two-point TSE-Dixon MRI. The water-only images from 20 patients were analyzed: (i) qualitatively by two experienced musculoskeletal radiologists, for overall image quality, fat suppression, anatomical visualization, and the absence of artifacts, using Wilcoxon rank tests, and (ii) quantitatively using apparent signal-to-noise ratio (aSNR) and apparent contrast-to-noise ratio (aCNR) from regions of interest (ROIs) with paired t-test. In the remaining 16 patients, the number of cruciate ligament tears identified on MRI was tabulated and compared with arthroscopy results.
Compared to conventional water-only images, dark-fat water-only images showed improved fat suppression (reader 1, P < 0.0001; reader 2, P < 0.05), improved overall image quality by reader 1 (P < 0.001), and improved visualization of the sciatic nerve for reader 1 (P < 0.01), while there were no significant differences for the other anatomical structures. aSNR was significantly reduced for bone marrow fat (P < 0.0001), and aCNR between meniscus and articular cartilage was significantly improved (P < 0.0001). There were a higher number of posterior cruciate ligament tears identified in MRI compared to arthroscopy.
Dark-fat processed water-only images improved fat suppression and tissue contrast visualization, particularly sciatic nerves, compared to conventional water-only images from two-point TSE-Dixon MR imaging.
使用暗脂肪图像处理技术改善两点式涡轮自旋回波（TSE）狄克逊MRI仅含水图像中的组织对比度可视化，并在回顾性采集的临床膝关节图像中进行评估。
在获得机构审查委员会批准后，回顾性收集了36例患者的临床膝关节MRI数据集。生成暗脂肪仅含水图像，并与两点式TSE - 狄克逊MRI的传统仅含水图像进行比较。对20例患者的仅含水图像进行了分析：（i）由两位经验丰富的肌肉骨骼放射科医生进行定性分析，评估整体图像质量、脂肪抑制、解剖结构可视化以及伪影情况，采用威尔科克森秩和检验；（ii）使用感兴趣区域（ROI）的表观信噪比（aSNR）和表观对比噪声比（aCNR）进行定量分析，采用配对t检验。在其余16例患者中，将MRI上识别出的交叉韧带撕裂数量列表，并与关节镜检查结果进行比较。
与传统仅含水图像相比，暗脂肪仅含水图像显示出更好的脂肪抑制效果（读者1，P < 0.0001；读者2，P < 0.05），读者1评估的整体图像质量有所提高（P < 0.001），读者1对坐骨神经的可视化效果有所改善（P < 0.01），而其他解剖结构无显著差异。骨髓脂肪的aSNR显著降低（P < 0.0001），半月板与关节软骨之间的aCNR显著提高（P < 0.0001）。与关节镜检查相比，MRI上识别出的后交叉韧带撕裂数量更多。
与两点式TSE - 狄克逊MR成像的传统仅含水图像相比，暗脂肪处理的仅含水图像改善了脂肪抑制和组织对比度可视化，尤其是对坐骨神经的可视化。
