Radiology, Vol 171, 327-333, Copyright © 1989 by Radiological Society of North America
Short TI inversion-recovery imaging of the liver: pulse-sequence optimization and comparison with spin-echo imaging
M Dousset, R Weissleder, RE Hendrick, DD Stark, CJ Fretz, G Elizondo, PF Hahn, S Saini and JT Ferrucci
Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.
Magnitude-reconstructed short inversion-time (TI) inversion-recovery (IR)
sequences have the advantage of reducing the signal of fat while providing
additive T1 and T2 contrast. A double-echo short TI IR sequence was
implemented to offer different degrees of T1- and T2- dependent image
contrast. In 50 consecutive patients with proved liver tumors (30
metastases, 13 hemangiomas, seven other primary liver tumors), images
obtained with a double-echo IR sequence at a repetition time (TR) of 1,500
msec, echo time (TE) of 30 and 60 msec, and TI of 80 msec (TR/TE/TI =
1,500/30, 60/80) were compared with those obtained with spin-echo (SE)
sequences at a TR of 275 msec and a TE of 14 msec (TR/TE = 275/14) and
2,350/60, 120, 180. Metastases-liver contrast-to- noise ratios were highest
at SE 275/14, followed by IR 1,500/30/80 and SE 2,350/180. IR 1,500/30/80
and SE 275/14 sequences consistently showed higher sensitivity for the
detection of metastases than T2- weighted SE sequences. Differential
diagnosis of benign and malignant lesions was more reliable with
T2-weighted SE sequences than T2- weighted short TI IR sequences.
