European journal of radiology
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Cardiac MRI has become a routinely used imaging modality in the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease and is considered the clinically accepted gold standard modality for the assessment of cardiac function and myocardial viability. In recent years, commercially available clinical scanners with a higher magnetic field strength (3.0 T) and dedicated multi-element coils have become available. The superior signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of these systems has lead to their rapid acceptance in cranial and musculoskeletal MRI while the adoption of 3.0 T for cardiovascular imaging has been somewhat slower. ⋯ Imaging sequences for the assessment of cardiac function with CINE balanced SSFP imaging and MR tagging, myocardial perfusion, and delayed enhancement and their adjustments for higher field imaging are explained in detail along with several clinical examples. We also explore the use of parallel imaging at 3.0 T to improve cardiac imaging by trading the SNR gain for higher field strengths for acquisition speed with increased coverage or improved spatial and temporal resolution. This approach is particularly useful for dynamic applications that are usually limited to the duration of a single breath-hold.
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Comparative Study
Comprehensive imaging of tumor recurrence in breast cancer patients using whole-body MRI at 1.5 and 3 T compared to FDG-PET-CT.
To compare the diagnostic accuracy for the detection of tumor recurrence in breast cancer patients using whole-body-MRI (WB-MRI) at 1.5 or 3T compared to FDG-PET-CT. ⋯ WB-MRI and PET-CT are useful for the detection of tumor recurrence in the follow-up of breast cancer. WB-MRI is highly sensitive to distant metastatic disease. PET-CT is more sensitive in detecting lymph node involvement. Tumor screening with WB-MRI is feasible at 1.5 and 3T, scan time is further reduced at 3T with identical resolution.
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The purpose of our study was to evaluate the image quality and diagnostic performance of two-dimensional (D) turbo spin echo (TSE) and 3D T2-weighted TSE MR imaging in local staging of rectal cancer at 3T. ⋯ In this study, high local staging accuracies with 3T 2D T2-weighted MR imaging were demonstrated. 3D T2-weighted MR imaging cannot replace 2D MR imaging for local staging of rectal cancer. However, 3D MR imaging can be used for visualization of the complex pelvic anatomy for treatment planning purposes.
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The purpose of our study was to evaluate perfusion and diffusion of kidneys in renal artery stenosis (RAS) and any correlation between stenosis and ADC values and whether this imaging modality may be a noninvasive complementary assessment technique to MR angiography before interventional procedures. ⋯ We think that DW MR imaging of kidneys with RAS can help determine the functional status of a renal artery stenosis.
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To evaluate the value of dynamic MR imaging in the differential diagnosis of adrenal adenomas and malignant tumors, especially in cases with atypical adenomas. ⋯ Chemical shift MR has a high sensitivity and specificity in the differential diagnosis of adenomas and malignant adrenal masses. However, taking into consideration only the atypical adenomas, chemical shift MRI is of no diagnostic value. Although the diagnostic value of dynamic MRI is lower than chemical shift MRI, in the atypical cases contrast enhancement patterns and time-to-peak and wash-in rates derived from SI-time curve of dynamic MRI give are contributory to the results of chemical shift MRI.