John P. Mugler, III1, Martin Requardt2, Karl Engelhard3, Talissa A. Altes1, Dominik Paul2, Berthold Kiefer2
1Radiology & Medical Imaging, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United States; 2Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany; 3Martha Maria Medical Center, Nuremberg, Germany
An inner-volume version of 3D TSE (SPACE) was implemented to permit high-resolution 3D imaging of the prostate in conjunction with relatively long repetition times for improved image contrast. The performance of this method was compared to that for conventional 2D TSE in four healthy subjects and three patients with prostate disease. Inner-volume SPACE permitted the repetition time to be substantially extended compared to standard slab-selective SPACE, while maintaining an acceptable acquisition time and the ability to obtain high-quality multi-planar reconstructions. Promising results were obtained compared to conventional 2D TSE in three patients with prostate disease.