Evaluation of a fast spin echo sequence in hepatic lesion. Comparison of fast spin echo sequence and conventional spin echo sequence

The purpose of this study was to compare T2-weighted fast spin echo sequence (FSE) with T2-weighted conventional spin echo sequence (CSE) to determine the efficasy of FSE in liver lesions. A total of 34 patients with 36 hepatic lesions were examined. FSE (TR3800/85msec, echo train length 16, matrix 256 X 204 and TR4000/88 msec, echo train length 8, matrix 256 x 204) and CSE (TR2000/80 msec, matrix 256 x 204) were performed at 1.0 T. The contrast-to-noise ratio (C/N) of the hepatic lesions was calculated for each sequence. Comparisons between the C/N ratios of lesions were made with paired t tests. There were no significant differences in the C/N ratios on FSE and CSE for hemangioma and cyst. But significant differences were encountered for hepatocellular carcinoma and metastatic liver tumor. Some of hepatocellular carcinomas were obscured on FSE but were seen obviously on CSE. Comparison using an echo train length of 8 with 16 in FSE, the C/N ratios were higher with 8 echo. There were some problems on FSE with routine examinations to detection of liver lesion. (author)