Siewert B, Müller M F, Foley M, Wielopolski P A, Finn J P
Department of Radiology, New England Deaconess Hospital, Boston, Mass.
Radiology. 1994 Oct;193(1):37-42. doi: 10.1148/radiology.193.1.8090918.
To compare several techniques for fast magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of focal liver lesions.
Ninety patients (37 men and 53 women, aged 19-92 years [mean, 54 years]) with 137 focal liver lesions (56 metastases, 13 hepatocellular carcinomas, 52 hemangiomas, 16 cysts) underwent MR imaging with rapid acquisition spin-echo (RASE), T1-weighted fast low-angle shot (FLASH), turboFLASH, segmented turboFLASH, and T2-weighted conventional and turbo spin echo (SE). Images were analyzed for spleen-to-liver and lesion-to-liver signal difference-to-noise ratios (SD/Ns).
Turbo SE T2-weighted imaging had the highest SD/N for spleen-to-liver (P < .01) and for lesion-to-liver (P < .02) contrast. Segmented T1-weighted turboFLASH imaging had the second highest SD/N for spleen-to-liver (P < .001) contrast and was better overall than other T1-weighted sequences for depicting liver lesions (P < .01). Results at segmented turboFLASH imaging were second best for hemangiomas (P < .01). For metastases, no significant difference was found for results with the T1-weighted sequences.
Segmented T1-weighted turboFLASH and turbo SE T2-weighted imaging hae advantages over conventional techniques for liver imaging.
