• Michael V Dutka, Diane Bergin, Patrick L O'Kane, Andrea J Frangos, Laurence Parker, and Donald G Mitchell.
• Department of Radiology, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107, USA. michael.dutka@mail.tju.edu
• J Magn Reson Imaging. 2008 Jan 1; 27 (1): 198-203.

PurposeTo retrospectively evaluate the sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of steady-state free-precession (SSFP) survey MRI of the abdomen.Materials And MethodsA total of 375 consecutive outpatients underwent abdominal MRI at 1.5T. Excluding diffuse metastatic disease, 110 patients had at least one other clinically important finding. The SSFP survey included contiguous 5-mm-thick axial, sagittal, and coronal slices (total 90 slices) obtained during a total of 90 seconds of free breathing. Studies were reviewed by two experienced MRI readers independently, randomized, blinded, and at different sittings. The chi-squared test was used to compare SSFP to full MRI for showing clinically important findings. In a subset of 30 patients, confidence intervals (CI) were calculated to compare the accuracy of SSFP and full MRI as predictors of biopsy result.ResultsSSFP detected 87.3% of clinically important findings and 93.3% of malignancies reported on the full MRI, with a 1.5% false-positive rate. Significant association was shown between SSFP and full MRI for clinically important findings (P < 0.0001). Compared to biopsy, accuracy of SSFP was high (85% +/- 12.7%), though not as high as full MRI (93.3% +/- 8.8%).ConclusionSSFP provides a rapid survey of the abdomen, with good sensitivity and few false positives.

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