Results of a prospective multicenter study for evaluation of the diagnostic duality of an open whole-body low-field MRI unit. A comparison with high-field MRI measured by the applicable gold standard
T. Merl et al., Results of a prospective multicenter study for evaluation of the diagnostic duality of an open whole-body low-field MRI unit. A comparison with high-field MRI measured by the applicable gold standard, EUR J RAD, 30(1), 1999, pp. 43-53
Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic quality of an open whole-body low-fie
ld MRI scanner compared to high-field scanners. Materials and methods: Over
a period of 3 months, 401 patients with diseases of the kidney (n = 78), t
he shoulder (n = 122), the spine (n = 105) and the cerebrum (n = 96) were p
rospectively evaluated in four participating centers. They all underwent cl
inical evaluation, low-field and high-field MRI examination and surgical or
follow-up confirmation of diagnosis. Clinical, histopathologic, high-field
and low-field MRI diagnoses were recorded in standardized questionnaires t
hat were centrally evaluated. Statistical evaluation comprised two parts: R
OC analysis assessed accuracy of MRI and clinical diagnoses; furthermore ra
tes of concordance of high- and low-field MRI diagnosis were calculated. Re
sults: We found no statistically relevant difference in high-field MRI diag
nosis compared to low-field MRI diagnostic accuracy measured by clinical or
surgical gold standard in three of the four regions examined; in cerebral
examinations there was a small yet significant advantage for the high-field
systems (P = 0.01). Conclusion: We conclude that the open low-field scanne
r we evaluated using clinical and surgical gold standard as reference is ab
le to achieve comparable diagnostic accuracy compared to high-field scanner
s at lower costs and greater patient comfort. Limitations due to field stre
ngth (signal-to-noise ratio, resolution, scan time) seem to be relevant onl
y in a very small number of cases that warrant high-field examination. (C)
1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.