Fast isotropic volumetric magnetic resonance imaging of the ankle: Acceleration of the three-dimensional fast spin...

To investigate the feasibility of three-dimensional fast spin echo (3D-FSE) imaging with compressed sensing (CS) and parallel imaging (PI) compared to 3D-FSE imaging with only PI in evaluating ankle joint pathologies.

Twenty consecutive patients underwent ankle magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), including acquisition of image sets of 2D-FSE sequences, and 3D-FSE sequences without and with CS, between June 2016 and November 2017. Three MR image sets were independently rated by two radiologists for the presence/absence of ankle pathology. Quantitative image similarity and subjective image quality were evaluated using 3D-FSE images without CS and those with CS-PI. Inter-sequence agreement between 3D-FSE sequences without CS and with CS-PI in both readers was evaluated.

Interobserver agreements were nearly perfect for sprain of the anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL, κ=0.77), osteochondral lesion of the talus (OLT, κ=0.76-0.88), osteochondral lesion of the distal tibia (OLTi, κ=0.74) and os subfibulare (OSF, κ=0.62-0.64). The structural similarity index (mean, 0.996; range, 0.990-0.997) between the 3D-FSE sequences without CS and with CS-PI was acceptable. There was no significant difference in subjective image quality between the two imaging sequences (ATFL, p = 0.317; bone marrow, p = 0.083; cartilage, p = 1.000, tendon, p = 1.000). Intersequence agreement between the 3D-FSE sequences with and without CS was nearly perfect (ATFL and OLTi, κ=1.00; OLT, κ=0.87-0.96; OSF, κ=0.62-0.64) in both readers.

Isotropic 3D-FSE ankle MRI with CS provides acceptable diagnostic performance with reduced scan time. Compressed sensing-related artifacts could be minimized with CS reconstruction enhancement, allowing for better image quality for evaluating ankle joint pathologies.