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Abstract

Background

Incomplete fat suppression induced by magnetic field inhomogeneity is difficult to compensate for with hardware magnetic-field shimming.

Purpose

To evaluate the effectiveness of a silicone device used to obtain homogeneous fat suppression during 3T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the foot.

Material and Methods

Thirty-eight healthy volunteers were enrolled and examined twice, before (group A) and after (group B) the application of a silicone device. Fat-saturated, T2-weighted, fast spin-echo images were acquired using the same scanning protocol at both examinations. Signal- and contrast-to-noise ratios (SNR and CNR) were calculated and compared in the four regions of interest (ROIs). ROI 1 and 2 were selected from toe-side bone and soft tissue, while ROI 3 and 4 were selected from proximal bone and soft tissue. Qualitative analysis using a four-point scale was performed for three categories. The categories are as follows: the overall image quality, homogeneity of the first phalange and metatarsal bone, respectively.

Results

The SNR and CNR in ROI 1 and 2 were significantly higher in group A than in group B (SNR; P < 0.001, CNR; P < 0.001), and there were no significant difference in ROI 3 and 4. The qualitative score of the overall fat suppression in group B was significantly higher than that in group A (P < 0.001). Homogeneity of the first phalange in group B was also significantly higher than that in group A (P < 0.001). On the other hand, the homogeneity of the metatarsal bone was not significantly different in the two groups.

Conclusion

The use of a silicone device provides homogeneous fat suppression in 3T MRI of the foot and can significantly improve image quality.

Keywords

Fat suppression homogeneity silicone magnetic resonance imaging signal-to-noise ratio contrast-to-noise ratio

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Effectiveness of a silicone device for foot MRI in order to obtain homogeneous fat suppression images

Abstract

Background

Purpose

Material and Methods

Results

Conclusion

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References