Abdominal MRI at 3.0 T: LAVA‐flex compared with conventional fat suppression T1‐weighted images. Issue 1 (12th November 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Li, Xing Hui; Zhu, Jiang; Zhang, Xiao Ming; Ji, Yi Fan; Chen, Tian Wu; Huang, Xiao Hua; Yang, Lin; Zeng, Nan Lin
• Is Part Of: Journal of magnetic resonance imaging. Volume 40:Issue 1(2014)
• Page Start: 58
• Page End: 66
• Publication Date: 2013-11-12
• Subjects: Magnetic resonance imaging -- Periodicals; 616
• DOI: 10.1002/jmri.24329
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1053-1807

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <sec id="jmri24329-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Purpose</title> <p>To study liver imaging with volume acceleration‐flexible (LAVA‐Flex) for abdominal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 3.0 T and compare the image quality of abdominal organs between LAVA‐Flex and fast spoiled gradient‐recalled (FSPGR) T1‐weighted imaging.</p> </sec> <sec id="jmri24329-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Materials and Methods</title> <p>Our Institutional Review Board approval was obtained in this retrospective study. Sixty‐nine subjects had both FSPGR and LAVA‐Flex sequences. Two radiologists independently scored the acquisitions for image quality, fat suppression quality, and artifacts and the values obtained were compared with the Wilcoxon signed rank test. According to the signal intensity (SI) measurements, the uniformity of fat suppression, the contrast between muscle and fat and normal liver and liver lesions were compared by the paired <italic>t</italic>‐test. The liver and spleen SI on the fat‐only phase were analyzed in the fatty liver patients.</p> </sec> <sec id="jmri24329-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>Compared with FSPGR imaging, LAVA‐Flex images had better and more homogenous fat suppression and lower susceptibility artifact (qualitative scores: 4.70 vs. 4.00, 4.86% vs. 7.14%, 4.60 and 4.10, respectively). The contrast between muscle and fat and between the liver and pathologic lesions was significantly improved on the LAVA‐Flex sequence. The contrast value of the fatty liver and spleen was higher than that of the liver and spleen.</p> </sec> <sec id="jmri24329-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusion</title> <p>The LAVA‐Flex sequence offers superior and more homogenous fat suppression of the abdomen than does the FSPGR sequence. The fat‐only phase can be a simple and effective method of assessing fatty liver. <bold>J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2014;40:58–66</bold>. © <bold>2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc</bold>.</p> </sec> </abstract>