Improved motion-sensitized driven-equilibrium preparation for 3D turbo spin echo T1 weighted imaging after gadolinium administration for the detection of brain metastases on 3T MRI

Objective:To evaluate the clinical usefulness of an improved motion-sensitized driven-equilibrium (iMSDE) preparation for three-dimensional turbo spin echo (TSE) T1 weighted imaging after gadolinium administration in 3.0-T MRI for the detection of brain metastases compared with conventional gradient echo (C-GRE) T1 weighted imaging with gadolinium.Methods:40 patients with suspected brain metastases underwent MR studies, including two contrast-enhanced sequences, iMSDE-TSE and C-GRE. Post-enhancement images of 14 patients with suspected metastatic brain lesions were retrospectively analyzed, and comparisons between iMSDE-TSE and C-GRE were made using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test.Results:C-GRE detected 86 metastatic lesions, whereas iMSDE-TSE detected 97, including one false-positive lesion on both sequences. 11 of 96 metastases were detected on iMSDE-TSE only. On C-GRE, 15 of 85 metastases were equivocal. There was a significant difference between C-GRE and iMSDE-TSE in terms of the number of detected les...