Comparison of short inversion time inversion recovery (STIR) and fat-saturated (chemsat) techniques for background fat intensity suppression in cervical and thoracic MR imaging

The purpose of this study was to compare short inversion time inversion rec overy (STIR) fast spin-echo (FSE), and fat-saturated T2-weighted FSE sequen ces in terms of uniformity of fat suppression and lesion conspicuity for ma gnetic resonance (MR) imaging bf the neck and thorax. STIR FSE and fat-satu rated T2-weighted FSE images were scored for uniformity of fat suppression (n = 40) and lesion conspicuity (n = 35). Five-point rank score analyses we re utilized by three experienced radiologists. The mean scores of STIR and fat-saturated FSE techniques for uniformity of fat suppression were 4.3 and 2.3, respectively (P < 0.0001), The mean scores of STIR and fat-saturated FSE techniques for lesion conspicuity were 4.2 and 3.5, respectively (P < 0 .0001), Insufficient fat suppression was prominent in the mandible, supracl avicular region, anterior mediastinum, epipericardial fat. and subdiaphragm atic fat. In addition, fat-saturated T2-weighted FSE showed inadvertent wat er suppression in 25%. The STIR FSE technique was superior to the fat-satur ated FSE technique for cervical and thoracic MR imaging. (C) 2000 Wiley-Lis s, Inc.