Improving the detectability of focal liver lesions on T2‐weighted MR images: Ultrafast breath‐hold or respiratory‐triggered thin‐section MRI?

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a respiratory‐triggered (RT) T2‐weighted turbo spin‐echo (TSE) sequence with thin section can improve the detectability of focal liver lesions compared to a breath‐hold (BH) T2‐weighted TSE sequence. In 25 patients an RT TSE with 8‐mm sections (8‐TSE RT) and 5‐mm sections (5‐TSE RT) and a BH TSE sequence with 8‐mm sections (8‐TSE BH) were performed. Forty‐one focal liver lesions (mean: 1.8 ± 1.2 cm; 14 lesions ≤1 cm; 27 lesions >1 cm) were evaluated. The 5‐TSE RT was significantly better in lesion detection compared to the 8‐TSE BH sequence for all sizes of lesions (40/41 vs. 33/41; P = 0.014). For lesions >1 cm no relevant differences in the detection rate of the sequences were found (8‐TSE RT, 26/27; 5‐TSE RT, 26/27; 8‐TSE BH, 25/27), for lesions ≤1 cm the 5‐TSE RT provided significantly better sensitivity than the 8‐TSE BH (14/14 vs. 8/14, P = 0.015). The results of this study suggest that lesion detection could be significantly improved by using an RT TSE sequence with thin sections compared with a BH TSE sequence. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2001;14:128–133. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.