This MRI sequence achieves "higher, faster, stronger" evaluation of soft tissue tumors!

At this stage, rapid magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) schemes using three-dimensional (3D) isotropic turbine spin echo (TSE) sequences have been developed clinically for the assessment of joint instability and for the assessment of bone tumor ranges for three-dimensional T1-weighted imaging
.
The isotropic voxel size of a three-dimensional sequence with high spatial resolution allows the MR image to be reformatted in any desired orientation and layer thickness after MRI acquisition, which is one of the important means of
providing rapid imaging.

Recently, studies have shown that the dedicated isotropic three-dimensional T1-weighted CAIPIRINHA SPACE sequence for the evaluation of bone tumors is comparable to the image quality and diagnostic effect of 2D T1-weighted TSE, which can realize the display and evaluation
of the scope of intramedullary bone tumors and the characteristics of bone tumors.
Two-dimensional T2-weighted TSE for fat suppression is an essential sequence for evaluating soft tissue tumors (STTs
).
However, two-dimensional T2-weighted TSE is limited by anisotropic voxels and its image layer thickness is relatively thick
.
Typically, multiple separate 2D TSE sequence acquisitions on different planes to evaluate STTs result in prolonged
acquisition times for MRI tumor scanning protocols.

Recently, a study published in the European Journal of Radiology evaluated the diagnostic performance and value of STT intrinsic and peripheral features by comparing the isotropic voxel size of the 4-fold accelerated 3D T2 CAIPIRINHA SPACE sequence with traditional 2D T2 TSE, providing a feasible solution for obtaining rapid, accurate and clear MR images clinically
.

This study performed MRI examination of 108 histically confirmed STTs patients, including 3D T2 (CAIPIRINHA SPACE TSE) and 2DT2 (TSE) sequences
.
Two radiologists evaluated the quality of each sequence (diagnostic, non-diagnostic), tumor characteristics (heterogeneity, signal strength, margins), and the presence of cortical involvement, bone marrow edema, and peripheral edema (PLE), and measured tumor size and PLE degree
.
The signal-noise (SNR) and contrast-noise (CNR) ratios and acquisition times of the 2D T2 and 3D T2 sequences of the two planes are reported, and the consistency
between statistics and methods is described.

The image quality of all sequences is diagnostic (100% [108/108]
).
There was no statistically significant difference between tumor characteristics of 3D T2 and 2D T2 (P<0.
05
).
The mean size of the tumor (3D T2: 2.
9±2.
5 cm, 2D T2: 2.
8±2.
6 cm, P=0.
4) or PLE degree (3D T2: 0.
5± 1.
2 cm, 2D T2: 0.
5± 1.
0 cm, P=0.
9) did not differ between the sequences
.
The signal-to-noise ratio of tumors, bone marrow, and fat did not differ between sequences, while the signal-to-noise ratio of muscles was higher than that of 2D T2 at 3D T2 (P < 0.
05).

CNR measurements of 3D T2 are similar to 2D T2 (P>0.
1
).
The average acquisition time for 3D T2 is shorter (343±127 seconds and 475 ±162 seconds, respectively)
compared to 2D T2.

This study shows that the three-dimensional CAIPIRINHA SPACE T2 sequence that accelerates fat suppression provides an STT feature assessment comparable to that of conventional 2D T2 MRI
.

Original source:

Rodrigo de Castro Luna,Neil M Kumar,Jan Fritz,et al.