ROTATOR CUFF - EVALUATION WITH FAST SPIN-ECHO VERSUS CONVENTIONAL SPIN-ECHO MR-IMAGING

PURPOSE: To determine if fast spin-echo (SE) magnetic resonance (MR) i maging can provide similar information to that of conventional SE imag ing for evaluation of the rotator cuff. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hun dred twenty-six patients underwent MR imaging with conventional SE and non-fat-suppressed fast SE sequences (65 patients) or conventional SE and fat-suppressed fast SE sequences (61 patients). Two radiologists independently graded the rotator cuff with separate and side-by-side a ssessment of the fast SE and conventional SE images. RESULTS: For dete ction of full-thickness tears, agreement between nonfat-suppressed fas t SE and conventional SE images was 93.8% (kappa = 0.78 [good]) and 95 .4% (kappa = 0.82 [very good]) for the two readers, respectively, and agreement between fat-suppressed fast SE and conventional SE images wa s 98.4% (kappa = 0.96 [very good]) and 91.8% (kappa = 0.73 [good]) for the two readers, respectively. Rotator cuff grading was similar for f ast SE and conventional SE: weighted kappa 0.77 (good) and 0.68 (good) for nonfat-suppressed and weighted kappa = 0.83 (very good) and 0.67 (good) for fat-suppressed fast SE images for the two readers, respecti vely. CONCLUSION: Fast SE sequences yield similar interpretations as t hose obtained with a conventional SE sequence for evaluation of the ro tator cuff.