Improved Diagnostic Utility of T2-Weighted 3D-TSE Liver Imaging by Suppression of Vascular Signals Using a Motion-Sensitive Preparation

John P. Mugler, III¹, Wilhelm Horger², Berthold Kiefer²

The purpose of this work was to evaluate the performance of a motion-sensitive preparation for suppressing the signal from vascular structures in T2-weighted 3D turbo-spin-echo (TSE) images of the liver. We found that the addition of a motion-sensitive preparation based on adiabatic RF pulses was effective for suppressing the signal from small vascular structures, thus eliminating potential ambiguity between vascular structures and small liver lesions. We anticipate that this improvement will enhance the diagnostic utility of single-slab, 3D-TSE imaging of the liver.