Purpose:To compare three-dimensional fast spoiled gradient-echo dual-echo (3D-FSPGR-DE) with water reconstruction to conventional 3D-FSPGR for gadolinium-enhanced abdominal imaging. Materials and Methods:Sixty-five patients underwent abdominal MRI on a 1.5T GE-HDx MR scanner using gadolinium-enhanced 3D-FSPGR and 3D-FSPGR-DE imaging. Qualitatively, FSPGR-DE and 3D-FSPGR images were reviewed side by side for normal anatomic structures, artifacts, and image quality. The images were reviewed separately for abnormalities of abdominal organs. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed. Quantitative analysis measured mean signal intensity of liver, spleen, aorta, liver lesions, and noise.Results: Observers preferred FSPGR-DE for evaluating liver, vessels, muscles, and subcutaneous tissues. Fat suppression was superior on FSPGR-DE in 63 (0.97) and 61 (0.94) of 65 cases for two observers. FSPGR-DE showed less susceptibility artifact in 47 (0.72) and 41 (0.63) cases, better signal in edge slices in 60 (0.92) and 60 (0.92) cases, less phase artifact in 42 (0.65) and 45 (0.69) cases, and less parallel imaging artifact in 13 (0.20) and 10 (0.15) cases. Images were equivalent for depicting abdominal findings with no difference in the area under the ROC curve. FSPGR-DE images showed a 20%, 29%, and 34% increase in liver, splenic, and aortic signal, respectively, and a 45% and 62% increase in liver-lesion contrast and contrast-tonoise ratio (CNR), respectively. Conclusion:Gadolinium-enhanced 3D-FSPGR-DE with water reconstruction provides volumetric abdominal imaging with superior image quality, more homogeneous fat suppression, reduced artifacts, and improved image signal and homogeneity.

High-resolution dual arterial phase 3D FSPGR MRI improves the timing of the arterial phase of liver enhancement and provides additional information for liver lesion detection.

Purpose: To evaluate a prototype fast spin echo (FSE) triple-echo-Dixon (fTED) technique for breath-hold, fat-suppressed, T2-weighted abdominal imaging. Materials and Methods:Forty patients underwent breathhold T2-weighted abdominal imaging with fTED and conventional fast recovery (FR) FSE with chemical shift-selective saturation (CHESS). FRFSE and fTED images were compared for overall image quality, homogeneity of fat suppression, image sharpness, anatomic detail, and phase artifact. Depiction of disease was recorded separately for FRFSE and fTED images.Results: FTED successfully reconstructed water-only and fat-only images from source images in all 40 cases. Water and fat separation was perfect in 36 (0.90) patients. Homogeneity of fat suppression was superior on the fTED images in 38 (0.95) of 40 cases. FTED images showed better anatomic detail in 27 (0.68), and less susceptibility artifact in 20 (0.50). FRFSE images showed less vascular pulsation artifact in 30 (0.75) cases, and less phase artifact in 21 (0.53) cases. There was no difference in depiction of disease for FRFSE and fTED images. Conclusion:FTED is a robust sequence providing breathhold T2-weighted images with superior fat suppression, excellent image quality, and at least equal depiction of disease compared to conventional breath-hold T2-weighted FRFSE imaging.

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