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Contrast enhancement of intracranial lesions at 1.5 T: comparison among 2D spin echo, black-blood (BB) Cube, and BB Cube-FLAIR sequences

  • Magnetic Resonance
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Abstract

Objectives

The purpose of this study was to investigate the usefulness of T1W black-blood Cube (BB Cube) and T1W BB Cube fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (BB Cube-FLAIR) sequences for contrast-enhanced brain imaging, by evaluating flow-related artefacts, detectability, and contrast ratio (CR) of intracranial lesions among these sequences and T1W-SE.

Methods

Phantom studies were performed to determine the optimal parameters of BB Cube and BB Cube-FLAIR. A clinical study in 23 patients with intracranial lesions was performed to evaluate the usefulness of these two sequences for the diagnosis of intracranial lesions compared with the conventional 2D T1W-SE sequence.

Results

The phantom study revealed that the optimal parameters for contrast-enhanced T1W imaging were TR/TE = 500 ms/minimum in BB Cube and TR/TE/TI = 600 ms/minimum/300 ms in BB Cube-FLAIR imaging. In the clinical study, the degree of flow-related artefacts was significantly lower in BB Cube and BB Cube-FLAIR than in T1W-SE. Regarding tumour detection, BB Cube showed the best detectability; however, there were no significant differences in CR among the sequences.

Conclusions

At 1.5 T, contrast-enhanced BB Cube was a better imaging sequence for detecting brain lesions than T1W-SE or BB Cube-FLAIR.

Key Points

• Cube is a single-slab 3D FSE imaging sequence.

• We applied a black-blood (BB) imaging technique to T1W Cube.

• At 1.5 T, contrast-enhanced T1W BB Cube was valuable for detecting brain lesions.

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Acknowledgments

The scientific guarantor of this publication is Professor Takamichi Murakami, Department of Radiology, Kinki University Faculty of Medicine. The authors of this manuscript declare no relationships with any companies whose products or services may be related to the subject matter of the article. The authors state that this work has not received any funding. One of the authors has significant statistical expertise. Institutional review board approval was obtained. Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects (patients) in this study. No study subjects or cohorts have been previously reported. Methodology: prospective, diagnostic or prognostic study, performed at one institution.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Kinki University Faculty of Medicine, 377-2 Ohno-Higashi, Osaka-Sayama, Osaka, 589-8511, Japan

    SungWoon Im, Ryuichiro Ashikaga, Yukinobu Yagyu, Tomoko Hyodo, Izumi Imaoka, Seishi Kumano, Kazunari Ishii & Takamichi Murakami

  2. MR Applications and Workflow, Asia Pacific, GE Healthcare Japan, 4-7-127, Asahigaoka, Hino, 191-8503, Tokyo, Japan

    Tetsuya Wakayama & Mitsuharu Miyoshi

Authors
  1. SungWoon Im
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  2. Ryuichiro Ashikaga
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  3. Yukinobu Yagyu
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  4. Tetsuya Wakayama
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  5. Mitsuharu Miyoshi
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  6. Tomoko Hyodo
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  7. Izumi Imaoka
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  8. Seishi Kumano
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  9. Kazunari Ishii
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  10. Takamichi Murakami
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Correspondence to SungWoon Im.

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Im, S., Ashikaga, R., Yagyu, Y. et al. Contrast enhancement of intracranial lesions at 1.5 T: comparison among 2D spin echo, black-blood (BB) Cube, and BB Cube-FLAIR sequences. Eur Radiol 25, 3175–3186 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-015-3757-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-015-3757-5

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