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Optimizing Liver Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Does Intuitive Protocol Management Software Save Time and Produce Better
Daniel Cornfeld1, Michael Nowak, Michael Spektor
1From the *Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven; and †Department of Medicine, St. Vincents Medical Center, Hartford, CT.
Purpose:
The purpose of this study is to determine if a software package (Abdomen DOT; Siemens Medical Systems, Erlangen Germany) designed to automate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the liver results in faster and higher quality examinations compared to optimized protocols performed by appropriately trained technologists.
Materials And Methods:
One hundred eight liver MRIs obtained using Abdomen DOT and 94 liver MRIs obtained without Abdomen DOT were retrospectively reviewed. Total scan time and the number of repeated sequences were objectively measured. Timing of the arterial phase, motion artifact, and quality of subtraction images were subjectively evaluated.
Results:
The examinations scanned using Abdomen DOT averaged 2 minutes and 2 seconds shorter than the examinations scanned without Abdomen DOT (P = 0.004) and on average, fewer sequences were repeated. The arterial phase was timed correctly 67% (63/94) of the time without using Abdomen DOT and 81% (87/108) of the time when using Abdomen DOT (P = 0.019). There was no difference in the amount of respiratory artifact. The subtraction images obtained using Abdomen DOT were considered slightly better (P < 0.005 for arterial, portal venous, and equilibrium phase images).
Conclusions:
The Abdomen DOT software helped our technologists scan slightly faster and obtain correctly timed arterial phase images more often.
