Comparison among ultrafast T2W (FB sense), turbo spin echo T2W and contrast enhanced T1W MR sequences in detecting of liver lesions

This study aimed to compare ultrafast T2 Weighted (T2W), TSE T2W and contrast enhanced T1W magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences in the detection liver lesions.Thirty patients already had liver lesions and with newly detected lesions were included in this study. The MRI sequences TE 80 FB SENSE T2W, SPIR FB SENSE T2W, TSE T2W with breath hold and breath hold contrast enhanced dynamic 3 dimensional (3D) T1 FFE were applied to all sample patients. The located liver lesions with T2W imaging were categorized according to number, size, edge and signal characteristics. The number of lesions which were detected in T2W sequences were compared with the number of lesions located in T1W sequences with different phases. Moreover, the sizes of lesions were compared in T2W sequences. The detected lesions were grouped under the categories of indistinct and sharp contours according to edge features in T2W. And also, they were grouped as mild, medium and highly hyperintensity according to signaling features. The groups of T2W were compared with the same group in T1W sequences by using Kruskal-Wallis and Mann Whitney U tests.In-fat suppressed SENSE T2W (SPIR FB SENSE) sequences, lesion numbers are found the highest. Yet, there was no statistically significant lesion detection sensivity difference between T2W and T1W sequences. It was also found that there was no statistically significant lesion size difference among SPIR FB SENSE T2W, TE 80 FB SENSE T2W and TSE T2W sequences. However, there were a statistically significant differences among TE 80 FB SENSE and TSE T2W, TE 80 FB SENSE and SPIR FB SENSE T2W sequences for the number of lesions with indistinct contour. There was no statistically significant difference among SPIR FB SENSE and TSE T2W in lesions with indistinct contour comparison. There were no statistically significant differences among SPIR FB SENSE, TE 80 FB SENSE and TSE T2W sequences for the number of lesions with sharp contour. The comparison that is according to the signaling features shows there was no statistically significant lesion differences in T2W sequences.It was observed that ultrafast SENSE T2W sequences were sensitive in lesion detection as much as TSE T2W sequences. It was, especially, impossible to detect lesions with a size under 5 millimeter in the dynamic contrast enhanced T1W sequences. It should be pointed out that dynamic imaging is important for characterization of lesions. The dynamic imaging, should be used alongside T2W imaging but not alone for lesion detection. Ultrafast sequences are quite reliable methods that could be used instead of TSE T2W sequences and their reliability increases with fat suppression techniques