• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.110-122
• /
• 2013

Purpose : To compare the image quality and ligament traceability in ankle images obtained using Volume Isotropic Turbo Spin Echo Acquisition (VISTA) MRI with and without fat suppression. Materials and Methods: The signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) in images from a phantom and from the ankle of a volunteer were compared. Ten ankles from 10 non-symptomatic volunteers were imaged for comparisons of contrast ratio (CR) and ligament traceability. All examinations were performed using VISTA sequences with and without fat suppression on a 3T MRI scanner. The SNRs were obtained from images with subjects and without subjects (noise-only). Contrast ratios from images of the 10 ankles were acquired between fluid and tendon (F-T), F-cartilage (C), F-ligament (L), fat (f)-T, f-C and f-L. Two musculoskeletal radiologists independently scored the traceability of 7 ligaments, in sagittal, axial and coronal images respectively, based on a 4-point scale (1 as not traceable through 4 as clearly traceable). The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare the CR. Fisher's exact test and Pearson's chi-squared test were used to compare the ligament traceability. Results: The SNRs did not differ significantly between the two sequences except in bone marrow. VISTA SPAIR showed the higher CR only in F-T (p = 0.04), whereas VISTA showed higher CR in f-T (p = 0.005), f-C (p = 0.005) and f-L (p = 0.005). The calcaneofibular ligament traceability with VISTA was superior to that obtained with VISTA SPAIR (p < 0.05) in all planes. Conclusion: VISTA showed significant superiority to VISTA SPAIR in tracing CFL due to the superior CR between fat and ligament.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.533-540
• /
• 1995

Attenuation correction is important in producing quantitative positron emission tomography (PET) images. Conventionally, photon attenuation effects are corrected using transmission measurements performed before tracer administration. The pre-injection transmission measurement approach may require a time delay between transmission and emission scans for the tracer studies requiring a long uptake period, about 45 minutes for F-18 deoxyglucose study. The time delay will limit patient throughput and increase the likelihood of patient motion. A technique lot performing simultaneous transmission and emission scans (T+E method) after the tracer injection has been validated. The T+E method substracts the emission counts contaminating the transmission measurements to produce accurate attenuation correction coefficients. This method has been evaluated in experiments using a cylindrical phantom filled with background water (5750 cc) containing $0.4{\mu}Ci/cc$ of F-18 fluoride ion and one insert cylinder (276 cc) containing $4.3{\mu}Ci/cc$. GE $Advance^{TM}$ PET scanner and Ge-68 rotating pin sources for transmission scanning were used for this investigation. Post-injection transmission scan and emission scan were peformed alternatively over time. The error in emission images corrected using post-infection transmission scan to emission images corrected transmission scan was 2.6% at the concentration of $1.0{\mu}Ci/cc$. No obvious differences in image quality and noise were apparent between the two images. The attenuation correction can be accomplished with post-injection transmission measurement using rotating pin sources and this method can significantly shorten the time between transmission and omission scans and thereby reduce the likelihood of patient motion and increase scanning throughput in PET.