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Automated Spine Survey Iterative Scan Technique¹

¹ From the Center for Imaging Research (K.L.W., J.M.S., R.B.B.), Department of Radiology, Section of Neuroradiology (K.L.W.), Department of Biomedical Engineering (K.L.W., J.M.S., R.B.B.), and Department of Psychiatry (K.L.W.), University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, PO Box 670762, 234 Goodman St, ML 0762, Cincinnati, OH 45267-0762; and the Neuroscience Institute, University Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio (K.L.W.). Received March 16, 2005; revision requested May 6; revision received June 2; accepted June 22; final version accepted August 12. Address correspondence to K.L.W. (e-mail: kenneth.weiss{at}uc.edu).

Institutional review board approval, with waived consent, was obtained to develop a spine-labeling algorithm with retrospectively obtained deidentified HIPAA-compliant data. An automated magnetic resonance (MR) imaging technique to rapidly survey the entire spine and provide definitive numbering of disks and vertebrae was compared with neuroradiologist assignments in 50 cases. Contiguous two-station sagittal fast gradient-recalled-echo sequences with 35-cm fields of view (FOVs) were preprogrammed for full cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine coverage (combined 70-cm FOV, seven sections, 15 mm left of to 15 mm right of midline, 4-mm section thickness, 1-mm intersection gap, 512 x 352 matrix, 58/2.0 [repetition time msec/echo time msec], 30° flip angle, 15.6-kHz bandwidth, 42-second acquisition time). In all cases, the neuroradiologist could visualize and definitively number all cervical, thoracic, and lumbar levels on automated spine survey iterative scan technique localizer studies. Automated disk-vertebra detection and numbering were concordant with neuroradiologist assignments in all cases. The entire spine can be surveyed with subminute, submillimeter in-plane resolution MR imaging. Cervical, thoracic, and lumbar vertebrae and disks can be readily identified and definitively numbered by means of visual inspection or semiautomated computer algorithm.

© RSNA, 2006