Reduction of motion artifacts in magnetic resonance imaging of the neck and cervical spine by long-term averaging.

RATIONALE AND
OBJECTIVES: We performed a prospective comparison of T1-weighted turbo spin-echo (TSE) imaging with standard averaging and with the long-term averaging method (LOTA), comparing the effects on signal-to-artifact noise ratio (S/aN) and motion artifacts.
METHODS: In 30 consecutive patients undergoing imaging of the neck or cervical spine, a transverse T1-weighted TSE sequence was applied with and without LOTA by using identical sequence parameters. Quantitative image analysis was done by calculating S/Ns in the phase-encoding direction (S/aN). Visual image analysis was performed by four independent, masked readers using a standardized score sheet for anatomic and pathological findings.
RESULTS: The LOTA sequence yielded significantly superior S/aN values compared with the standard averaging sequence. In the subjective evaluation, the LOTA sequence showed significantly fewer motion artifacts and better visualization of normal anatomy of the neck, cervical spine, and spinal cord, as well as of the pathological findings.
CONCLUSIONS: LOTA is a valuable method for increasing S/aN in magnetic resonance imaging of the neck and cervical spine. It reduces motion artifacts and increases the conspicuity of pathology without increasing acquisition time. No additional hardware is needed, and this technique can be combined with other artifact-reducing methods.