Echo-train STIR MRI of the liver: Comparison of breath-hold and non-breath-hold imaging strategies

The purpose of this study was to evaluate echo-train short inversion-time i nversion recovery (STIR) sequences and compare the results obtained with br eath-hold and nonbreath-hold imaging strategies, Forty-one patients referre d for hepatic magnetic resonance were imaged with both a breath-hold STIR ( BH-STIR; acquisition time [TA] 16-20 seconds x 2) and a non-breath-hold STI R (NBH-STIR; TA 210-256 seconds), Quantitative analysis of the liver, splee n, and up to five hepatic lesions per patient was performed. Three blinded readers recorded the number of focal lesions depicted by each study and qua litatively evaluated overall image quality, lesion conspicuity, and image a rtifacts, The BH-STIR had greater sensitivity (98.8% vs, 91.6%) for detecti on of hepatic lesions than the NBH-STIR. The BH-STIR was statistically supe rior in four measures of image quality and had fewer image artifacts. The N BH-STIR images had statistically higher signal-to-noise (S/N, P < 0.001) an d liver-lesion contrast-to-noise (C/N, P = 0.005) ratios, For the evaluatio n of focal hepatic lesions, a breath-hold echo-train STIR sequence provided superior overall image quality and allowed for detection of more lesions i n a shorter amount of time than a non-breath-hold echo-train STIR sequence. J, Magn. Reson. Imaging 1999;9:87-92. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.