AJR. American journal of roentgenology
-
AJR Am J Roentgenol · Aug 2011
Use of 2D sensitivity encoding for slow-infusion contrast-enhanced isotropic 3-T whole-heart coronary MR angiography.
The purpose of this study was to improve the blood-pool signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and blood-myocardium contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of slow-infusion 3-T whole-heart coronary MR angiography (MRA). ⋯ In combination with contrast administration, 2D SENSE was found effective in improving SNR and CNR in 3-T whole-heart coronary MRA. Further investigation of cardiac motion compensation is necessary to exploit the SNR and CNR advantages and to achieve submillimeter spatial resolution.
-
AJR Am J Roentgenol · Aug 2011
New vertebral compression fractures after prophylactic vertebroplasty in osteoporotic patients.
Previous studies have shown the possible efficacy of prophylactic cement injection for nonfractured vertebrae during percutaneous vertebroplasty for compression fractures. The purpose of this study was to investigate risk factors for subsequent fractures after prophylactic percutaneous vertebroplasty. ⋯ Patients with three or more fractures tended to have subsequent fractures, despite undergoing prophylactic percutaneous vertebroplasty. However, there was no increased risk of subsequent fractures related to prophylactic percutaneous vertebroplasty.
-
AJR Am J Roentgenol · Aug 2011
Comparative StudyCharacterization of adrenal lesions with 1.5-T MRI: preliminary observations on comparison of three in-phase and out-of-phase gradient-echo techniques.
The purpose of this study was to use previously described quantitative evaluation methods to compare the performance of 3D gradient-recalled echo (GRE) and magnetization-prepared (MP) GRE in-phase and out-of phase sequences with standard 2D GRE technique in the characterization of adrenal lesions. ⋯ The results of characterization of adrenal lesions with MP GRE and 3D GRE in-phase and out-of-phase MRI techniques are comparable to those obtained with the reference standard 2D GRE technique. Different thresholds should be selected according to the in-phase and out-of-phase techniques used and for the various evaluation methods.
-
AJR Am J Roentgenol · Aug 2011
Comparative StudyComparison of sagittal T2-weighted BLADE and fast spin-echo MRI of the female pelvis for motion artifact and lesion detection.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of BLADE (proprietary name for periodically rotated overlapping parallel lines with enhanced reconstruction [PROPELLER] in MR systems from Siemens Healthcare) MRI compared with conventional T2-weighted fast spin-echo (FSE) MRI for reducing artifacts and improving image quality when imaging the female pelvis. ⋯ Imaging of uterine junctional zone anatomy, ovaries, and fibroids was improved and artifacts were reduced with BLADE compared with FSE. Radial artifact introduced by the BLADE sequence and slightly longer imaging times needed for the BLADE sequence were offset by improved image quality.
-
AJR Am J Roentgenol · Aug 2011
Comparative evaluation of the modified CT severity index and CT severity index in assessing severity of acute pancreatitis.
The purpose of this study was to compare the modified CT severity index (MCTSI) with the CT severity index (CTSI) regarding assessment of severity parameters in acute pancreatitis (AP). Both CT indexes were also compared with the Acute Physiology, Age, and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE II) index. ⋯ No significant differences were noted between the CTSI and the MCTSI in evaluating the severity of AP. Compared with APACHE II, both CT indexes more accurately diagnose clinically severe disease and better correlate with the need for intervention and pancreatic infection.