[Nuclear magnetic resonance tomography of the liver with Turbo FLASH]

A Turbo FLASH sequence consisting of an initial non-selective 180 degree inversion pulse followed by an ultrafast FLASH sequence with very short repetition and echo times (TR = 7 ms, TE = 4 ms) was used to study 20 patients with focal liver lesions. The results were compared to T1-weighted gradient-echo (108/5/80 for TR/TE/flip angle) and T2-weighted spin-echo sequences (TR/TE/excitations = 2500 ms/40 ms, 90 ms, 140 ms/2). Liver-spleen contrast of the fast scans was superior to T1- and T2-weighted images for TI = 300 ms (0.59 +/- 0.12 vs 0.33 +/- 0.07 and 0.42 +/- 0.14 respectively). Liver-lesion contrast of the fast scans for TI = 300-700 ms was superior to the T1-weighted gradient echo sequence (0.49 +/- 0.21 vs 0.23 +/- 0.09), equal to the T2-weighted spin echo sequence for TE = 90 ms (0.54 +/- 0.17) but inferior to the 140 ms echo (0.63 +/- 0.18). On Turbo FLASH scans, there were no flow or motion artifacts and lesions borders and structures were better delineated than on the spin-echo images. Imaging time for the whole liver is less than a minute.