Abstract
Although the signs of complete rotator cuff tears on MRI are well established, tendinitis and partial rotator cuff tears cannot always be readily depicted. In order to optimize the soft-tissue contrast of shoulder imaging without increasing imaging time for routine applications, we compared spin-echo and gradient-echo sequences with and without fat saturation and studied the soft-tissue contrast of spoiled gradient-echo sequences with several different parameters. We conclude, that fat-saturation is not necessary in order to improve the soft-tissue contrast. Successful fat suppression was only achieved in 50% of cases. We found a gradient-echo sequence with a double echo acquisition (echo times TE: 11 and 34 ms) with a long repetition time (TR: 600 ms) and a moderate flip angle (20°) very helpful in diagnosing rotator cuff pathology.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Burk DL, Karasick D, Kurtz AB, Mitchell DG, Rifkin MD, Miller CL, Levy DW, Fenlin JM, Bartolozzi AR (1989) Rotator Cuff Tears: Prospective Comparison of MR Imaging with Arthrography, Sonography and Surgery. AJR 153: 87–92
Zlatkin MB, Iannotti JP, Roberts MC, Esterhai JL, Dalinka MK, Kressel HY, Schwartz JS, Lenkinski RE (1989) Rotator Cuff Tears: Diagnostic Performance of MR Imaging. Radiology 172: 223–229
Farley TE, Neumann CH, Steinbach LS, Morgan FW, Holt RG, Jahnke AH, Petersen SS (1991) MR Imaging of the Rotator Cuff: Evaluation of Criteria for Diagnosis of Full Thickness Tear. ARRS Annual Meeting, Boston, Book of Abstracts: 37
Holt RG, Helms CA, Steinbach L, Neumann C, Munk PL, Genant HK (1990) Magnetic resonance imaging of the shoulder: rationale and current applications. Skeletal Radiol 19: 5–14
Haase A, Frahm J, Haenicke W, Matthaei D (1985) 1H NMR chemical shift selective (CHESS) imaging. Phys Med Biol 30: 341–344
Martin JF, Edelman RR (1990) Fast MR Imaging. In: Edelman RR and Hesselink JR (eds) Clinical Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Saunders, Philadelphia
Laumann U (1988) Erkrankungen des Schultergelenkes aus orthopädischer Sicht. Radiologe 28: 49–53
Meyer SJF, Dalinka MK (1990) Magnetic resonance imaging of the shoulder. Seminars in ultrasound, CT and MR 11: 253–266
Reiser M, Erlemann R, Bongartz G, Pauly T, Kunze V, Mathiass H, Peters PE (1988) Möglichkeiten der Magnetischen Resonanz Tomographie (MRT) in der Diagnostik des Schultergelenkes. Radiologe 28: 79–83
Dixon WT (1984) Simple proton spectroscopic imaging. Radiology 153: 189–194
Rosen BR, Wedeen VJ, Brady TJ (1984) Selective Saturation NMR Imaging. Comput Assist Tomogr 85: 813–818
Haase A (1990) Snapshot FLASH MRI. Applications to T1, T2, and chemical shift imaging. Magn Reson Med 13: 77–89
Joseph PM, Shetty A (1988) A comparison of selective saturation and selective echo chemical shift imaging techniques. Magn Reson Imaging 6: 421–430
Szumowski J, Eisen JK, Vinitski S, Haake PW, Plewes DB (1989) Hybrid methods of chemical shift imaging. Magn Reson Med 9: 379–388
Mirowitz SA (1991) Normal Rotator Cuff: MR Imaging with Conventional and Fat-Supression Techniques. Radiology 180: 735–740
Wehrli FW, Perkins TG, Shimakawa A, Roberts F (1987) Chemical Shift-Induced Amplitude Modulations in Images Obtained with Gradient Refocusing. Magn Reson Imaging 5: 157–158
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Offprint requests to: Harry K. Genant
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Vahlensieck, M., Majumdar, S., Lang, P. et al. Shoulder MRI: routine examinations using gradient recalled and fat-saturated sequences. Eur. Radiol. 2, 142–147 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00171402
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00171402