Fat-suppressed body MR imaging

A rapid method of fat suppression has been developed which requires only one data set acquisition. Fat suppression enhances subtle water contrast between various water- and fat-containing structures, including bladder, rectum, uterine anatomy, and breast parenchyma. Lymph nodes can be separated from fat and muscle as well as blood vessels, while signal contrast is preserved in other soft tissues. Fat suppression technique has a broad range of clinical applications. It increases diagnostic capabilities due to better visualization of subtle water contrast, and may actually decrease imaging time by replacing multiple spin-echo sequences. Examples obtained using a GE 1.5-T Signa system and projections for future applications are reviewed