Value of fat suppression in gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance neuroimaging

T1-weighted, gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging is frequently used to investigate neurologic disease in small animals; however, the abundance of hyperintense adipose tissue adjacent to neural structures, particularly the cranial nerves and spinal cord, can decrease the conspicuity of contrast-enhanced tissues on T1-weighted images. For this reason, chemical fat saturation techniques are used to suppress the signal of adipose tissues, enabling improved depiction of gadolinium-enhanced structures and detection of lesions affecting the nervous system.