Radiology, Vol 193, 37-42, Copyright © 1994 by Radiological Society of North America
Fast MR imaging of the liver: quantitative comparison of techniques
B Siewert, MF Muller, M Foley, PA Wielopolski and JP Finn
Department of Radiology, New England Deaconess Hospital, Boston, Mass.
PURPOSE: To compare several techniques for fast magnetic resonance (MR)
imaging of focal liver lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 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). RESULTS: 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. CONCLUSION: Segmented T1-weighted turboFLASH and
turbo SE T2- weighted imaging hae advantages over conventional techniques
for liver imaging.
