Ultrafast FLAIR imaging with single-shot echo-planar technique in evaluation of intracranial lesions

We evaluated the detection of the brain lesions with single-shot echo-planar FLAIR imaging (EP-FLAIR) relative to fast spin-echo FLAIR imaging (fast-FLAIR). In 30 patients with variety of intracranial lesions, a prospective comparison of EP-FLAIR and fast-FLAIR was performed. Data acquisition time per image was 0.1 s with EP-FLAIR. Quantitative and qualitative criteria as well as lesion detectability were evaluated. EP-FLAIR provided almost same tissue contrast and CSF suppression as fast-FLAIR did. In the quantitative analysis, contrast and contrast-to-noise ratio (C/N) of EP-FLAIR were comparable to those of fast-FLAIR, and there was no significant difference between them. The increased magnetic susceptibility effect was useful in screening for subtle hemorrhage. However, EP-FLAIR was degraded by susceptibility artifacts at the skull base and posterior to the frontal sinuses. Motion artifacts were not encountered owing to the very short imaging time, and EP-FLAIR was particularly useful in screening for the lesions in uncoorporative patients.