Le Cam S, de Boissieu P, Teglas JP, Merzoug V, Mannes I, Adamsbaum C. Analysis of whole-body MRI artifacts in a pediatric population with a special emphasis on the effect of hands position.
Diagn Interv Imaging 2023;
104:153-159. [PMID:
36274050 DOI:
10.1016/j.diii.2022.10.002]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2022] [Revised: 09/28/2022] [Accepted: 10/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE
The purpose of this retrospective study was to determine the prevalence of artifacts on whole-body (WB) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination in pediatric patients and identify their causes.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A total of 107 pediatric patients who underwent a total of 107 WB-MRI examinations, including short-tau inversion recovery (STIR) and T1-weighted sequences, were included. There were 62 girls and 45 boys with a mean age of 11 ± 3 (SD) years (age range: 2-16 years). WB-MRI examinations were analyzed for the presence of artifacts on STIR and T1-weighted sequences. Artifacts were further assigned to one of eight categories (motion, partial volume, cross-talk, phase sampling, susceptibility, equipment, noise, and "other") and 19 anatomical sites by a 4-year resident. Prevalence of artifacts were analyzed especially according to hands position during the examination for the upper limbs and patients' age. Age was expressed as a binary variable using median age (10 years) as the cut-off value. All qualitative variables were compared using chi-square test.
RESULTS
A total of 3436 artifacts were found. The STIR sequences showed more "noise" artifacts (93/1038; 8.96%) and more "cross-talk" (102/1038; 9.83%) artifacts than T1-weighted sequences (12/1038 [1.16%] and 7/1038 [0.67%], respectively) (P < 0.001 for both). T1-weighted sequences showed more "equipment" (84/1038; 8.09%) and "stair-step" (a subset of "other") (41/1038; 3.95%) artifacts than the STIR sequences (39/1038 [3.76%] and 21/1038 [2.02%], respectively) (P < 0.001 and P = 0.01, respectively). T1-weighted sequences showed fewer artifacts on the wrists when the hands were under the bottom (P = 0.001). T1-weighted sequences showed less "equipment" artifacts when the hands were alongside the body (22/296; 7%) than on the abdomen (48/432; 11%) or under the bottom (14/128; 11%) (P < 0.001). STIR sequences showed more "motion" artifacts when the hands were on the abdomen (54/432; 13%) than alongside the body (30/296; 10%) or under the bottom (15/128; 12%) (P < 0.001). WB-MRI examinations had more "susceptibility" artifacts (38/960; 4%) and more "equipment" artifacts (81/960; 8.4%) in patients older than 10 years than in those under 10 years (23/752 [3.1%] and 42/752 [5.6%]) (P = 0.01 and P < 0.001, respectively).
CONCLUSION
Artifacts on WB-MRI do not affect coronal STIR and T1-weighted sequences equally, so the use of both sequence types appears useful. Hands position should be considered with respect to both diagnostic benefit and safety.
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