Kathryn Jane Stevens1, Grant Charles Wallace1, Weitian Chen2, Reed F. Busse2, Anja CS Brau2, Philip J. Beatty2, Garry Evan Gold1
1Radiology, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, CA, USA; 2GE Healthcare, GE Healthcare Global Applied Sciences Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA, USA
Two-dimensional fast spin-echo (2D-FSE) is frequently used to evaluate the wrist joint, but is limited by partial volume artifacts and slice gaps. Volumetric acquisition with isotropic resolution overcomes these limitations, and allows reformations in multiple imaging planes from a single acquisition. We compared 2D-FSE in the wrist at 1.5T with 3D-FSE-Cube, a technique that combines variable flip angle refocusing with auto-calibrated parallel imaging to achieve isotropic resolution in clinical feasible scan times. 3D-FSE-Cube showed significantly higher signal-to-noise than 2D-FSE, and fat suppression was uniform. The ability to reformat in any plane makes multiple 2D acquisitions unecessary, and also enhances visualization of complex wrist anatomy.