Improving the detectability of focal liver lesions on T2-weighted MR images: ultrafast breath-hold or respiratory-triggered thin-section MRI?

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a respiratory-triggered (RT) T2-weighted turbo spin-echo (TSE) sequence with thin section can improve the detectability of focal liver lesions compared to a breath-hold (BH) T2-weighted TSE sequence. In 25 patients an RT TSE with 8-mm sections (8-TSE RT) and 5-mm sections (5-TSE RT) and a BH TSE sequence with 8-mm sections (8-TSE BH) were performed. Forty-one focal liver lesions (mean: 1.8 +/- 1.2 cm; 14 lesions < or =1 cm; 27 lesions >1 cm) were evaluated. The 5-TSE RT was significantly better in lesion detection compared to the 8-TSE BH sequence for all sizes of lesions (40/41 vs. 33/41; P = 0.014). For lesions >1 cm no relevant differences in the detection rate of the sequences were found (8-TSE RT, 26/27; 5-TSE RT, 26/27; 8-TSE BH, 25/27), for lesions < or =1 cm the 5-TSE RT provided significantly better sensitivity than the 8-TSE BH (14/14 vs. 8/14, P = 0.015). The results of this study suggest that lesion detection could be significantly improved by using an RT TSE sequence with thin sections compared with a BH TSE sequence. Copyright 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.