Altun E, Semelka RC, Dale BM, Elias J. Water excitation MPRAGE: an alternative sequence for postcontrast imaging of the abdomen in noncooperative patients at 1.5 Tesla and 3.0 Tesla MRI.
J Magn Reson Imaging 2008;
27:1146-54. [PMID:
18425826 DOI:
10.1002/jmri.21346]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE
To evaluate the diagnostic image quality of postgadolinium water excitation-magnetization-prepared rapid gradient-echo (WE-MPRAGE) sequence in abdominal examinations of noncooperative patients at 1.5 Tesla (T) and 3.0T MRI.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Eighty-nine consecutive patients (48 males and 41 females; mean age +/- standard deviation, 54.6 +/- 16.6 years) who had MRI examinations including postgadolinium WE-MPRAGE were included in the study. Of 89 patients, 33 underwent noncooperative protocol at 1.5T, 10 underwent noncooperative protocol at 3.0T, and 46 underwent cooperative protocol at 3.0T. Postgadolinium WE-MPRAGE, MPRAGE, and three-dimensional gradient-echo sequences of these three different groups were qualitatively evaluated for image quality, extent of artifacts, lesion conspicuity, and homogeneity of fat-attenuation by two reviewers retrospectively, independently, and blindly. The results were compared using Wilcoxon signed rank and Mann-Whitney U tests. Kappa statistics were used to measure the extent of agreement between the reviewers.
RESULTS
The average scores indicated that the images were diagnostic for WE-MPRAGE at 1.5T and 3.0T in noncooperative patients. WE-MPRAGE achieved homogenous fat-attenuation in 31/33 (94%) of noncooperative patients at 1.5T and 10/10 (100%) of noncooperative patients at 3.0T. WE-MPRAGE at 3.0T had better results for image quality, extent of artifacts, lesion conspicuity and homogeneity of fat-attenuation compared with WE-MPRAGE at 1.5T, in noncooperative patients (P = 0.0008, 0.0006, 0.0024, and 0.0042; respectively). Kappa statistics varied between 0.76 and 1.00, representing good to excellent agreement.
CONCLUSION
WE-MPRAGE may be used as a T1-weighted postgadolinium fat-attenuated sequence in noncooperative patients, particularly at 3.0T MRI.
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