Lauren Michelle Shapiro1,
Deborah M. Lee1, Karthryn J. Stevens1, Weitian Chen2,
Anja C. Brau2, Brian A. Hargreaves3, Garry Evan Gold1,4
1Department of
Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; 2Applied
Science Laboratory, GE Healthcare, Menlo Park, CA, USA; 3Department
of Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford University, CA, USA; 4Department
of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Musculoskeletal MRI studies usually comprise of 2D-FSE sequences acquired in orthogonal planes. 3D-FSE enables isotropic voxel acquisition allowing reformations and decreased overall exam time. Thinner slice thickness in 3D-FSE also results in less partial volume artifact. We compare the clinical performance of 3D-FSE to 2D-FSE in evaluating the symptomatic upper extremity at 3.0T using arthroscopy as a reference standard. 3D-FSE showed similar performance to 2D-FSE in pathology identification in the upper extremity. The thinner slices of 3D-FSE, and the ability to reformat images in arbitrary planes, enabled optimal visualization of smaller and oblique pathology.
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