BONE-MARROW LESIONS - EVALUATION WITH FAT-SUPPRESSION TURBO SPIN-ECHOMR-IMAGING AT 0.5 T

The purpose of this study was the assessment of the diagnostic value o f fat-suppression T2-weighted images for a variety of bone marrow lesi ons. We performed 40 studies of the axial or appendicular skeleton in 33 patients (age range 4-80 years) with neoplastic, inflammatory or tr aumatic lesions with a 0.5 T system (Gyroscan T5, Philips Medical Syst ems, Best, The Netherlands). Fat-suppression T2-weighted images [turbo spin echo (TSE) with spectral presaturation with inversion recovery ( SPIR)] were obtained in addition to the routine T1-weighted SE and T2- weighted TSE sequences. Fat-suppression TSE T2-weighted images were be tter than standard TSE T2-weighted images in 25 studies. In 11 of them demonstration and characterization of the lesions (known from T1-weig hted images) was possible only after fat suppression. In the other 14 patients demonstration of the full extent of the lesion especially to the nearby soft tissues was possible only after fat suppression. In 13 studies no advantage was conferred by SPIR, whereas in two instances T2-weighted images wee better. Fat-suppression T2-weighted images are diagnostically usefull in a variety of lesions of the musculoskeletal system, but their limitations should be known.