Kristen W. Yeom1, Valentina Taviani1, Andreas M. Loening1, Michael Iv1, and Shreyas S. Vasanawala1
Conventional
single shot fast spin echo (SSFSE) and variable refocusing flip angle SSFSE
(vrfSSFSE) were compared for fast sedation-free pediatric brain MRI (N=33). Two neuroradiologists independently and blindly evaluated SSFSE and vrfSSFSE
images for motion, perceived resolution (sharpness),
contrast and lesion conspicuity on
a five-point scale. vrfSSFSE gave less motion and
misregistration artefacts than conventional SSFSE, due to the shorter scan
duration. As for the other image quality metrics, vrfSSFSE was found to be
either comparable or superior to conventional SSFSE.