Mike Notohamiprodjo1, Annie Horng2,
Bernhard Kuschel2, Peter Br3, Maximilian F. Reiser,
Christian Glaser
1Institute for Clinical Radiology,
University Hospitals Munich, Munich, Bavaria, Germany; 2University
Hospitals Munich, Insitute for Clinical Radiology; 3Siemens Sector
Healthcare
The
purpose of this study was to evaluate an optimized 3D-TSE-sequence for
ankle-MRI at 3T. Fifteen volunteers and 25 patients were examined at 3T with
a dedicated 8-channel-ankle coil and the isotropic PDfs-weigthed
3D-TSE-sequence SPACE featuring optimized variable flip angles, elliptical
scanning and radial k-space readout for improved contrast and time efficient
acquisition. In comparison to current 2D-TSE-sequences, relevant SNR and CNR
were significantly higher. The 3D-reconstruction capabilities provided better
visualization of small structures, ligaments and lesions. Diagnostic
confidence was not significantly different in the 3D-TSE-sequence. This
technique holds high potential for future ankle-MRI protocols.