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Diffusion‐weighted whole‐body MRI with background body signal suppression: Technical improvements at 3.0 T
Author(s) -
Mürtz Petra,
Kaschner Marius,
Träber Frank,
Kukuk Guido,
Skowasch Dirk,
Gieseke Jürgen,
Schild Hans H.,
Willinek Winfried A.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of magnetic resonance imaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.563
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1522-2586
pISSN - 1053-1807
DOI - 10.1002/jmri.22877
Subject(s) - image quality , magnetic resonance imaging , echo planar imaging , nuclear medicine , diffusion mri , effective diffusion coefficient , fast spin echo , nuclear magnetic resonance , medicine , biomedical engineering , radiology , physics , computer science , artificial intelligence , image (mathematics)
Purpose: To improve image quality of diffusion‐weighted body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with background body signal suppression (DWIBS) at 3.0 T. Materials and Methods: In 30 patients and eight volunteers, a diffusion‐weighted spin‐echo echo‐planar imaging sequence with short TI inversion recovery (STIR) fat suppression was applied and repeated using slice‐selective gradient reversal (SSGR) and/or dual‐source parallel radiofrequency (RF) transmission (TX). The quality of diffusion‐weighted images and gray scale inverted maximum intensity projections (MIP) were visually assessed by intraindividual comparison with respect to the level of fat suppression and signal homogeneity. Moreover, the contrast between lesions/lymph nodes and background (C lb ) was analyzed in the MIP reconstructions. Results: By combining STIR with SSGR, fat suppression was significantly improved ( P < 0.001) and C lb was increased two times. The use of TX allowed the reduction of acquisition time and improved image quality with regard to signal homogeneity ( P < 0.001) and fat suppression ( P = 0.005). Conclusion: DWIBS at 3.0 T can be improved by using SSGR and TX. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2012;456‐461. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.