A method called segmented turboFLASH imaging allows high-resolution, multisection, short-inversion-time (TI) inversion-recovery (STIR), T1- or T2-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) studies of the liver to be completed within a breath-hold interval. The method was applied in a phantom and in 19 patients with hepatic lesions. Sequence comparisons were performed among segmented turboFLASH, single-shot turboFLASH, T1-weighted gradient-echo with ultrashort echo time, and T2-weighted spin-echo (SE) techniques. Signal from fat and liver could be nulled with the segmented turboFLASH method, with TIs of 10 and 300 msec, respectively; signal from these tissues could not be eliminated with the single-shot approach. Signal-difference-to-noise ratios and contrast for the best segmented sequences were comparable with those of the best T2-weighted SE and T1-weighted gradient-echo techniques. It is concluded that it is feasible to obtain breath-hold images with arbitrary tissue contrast by means of segmented turboFLASH imaging. The method may prove helpful for the detection and characterization of hepatic lesions and will likely have applications to other anatomic regions such as the chest and pelvis.

No abstract

No abstract

Prompted by the failure to detect a clinically evident knee-joint effusion on the cross-table lateral view of an injured patient, a prospective study was carried out to compare the routine overhead and cross-table lateral knee views for detection of joint effusion in 18 patients with acute knee trauma. In every case, the size of the effusion as determined by the "fat-pad separation sign" was greater on the overhead view (p less than 0.001). In three patients the effusion would have been missed radiologically had the vertical-beam projection been omitted. The authors conclude that the cross-table lateral view is less sensitive than the routine overhead lateral view in the detection of knee-joint effusions because of fluid shift into the lateral recesses of the suprapatellar bursa with the patient in the supine position. This phenomenon is demonstrated by arthrography and computed tomography in one patient.

No abstract