Spiral T1 Spin-Echo for Routine Postcontrast Brain MRI Exams: A Multicenter Multireader Clinical Evaluation

Area of Science:

• Radiology
• Medical Imaging
• Neuroimaging

Background:

• Conventional Cartesian Magnetic Resonance (MR) imaging is the standard for structural brain scans.
• Spiral MR imaging presents potential advantages for enhanced clinical value.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare spiral and Cartesian postcontrast structural brain MR imaging.
• To evaluate performance across 10 metrics including image quality, artifact prevalence, and diagnostic benefit.

Main Methods:

• A multicenter study involving 7 sites and 88 subjects.
• Comparison of spiral 2D T1 spin-echo with 4 routine Cartesian 2D T1 spin-echo/TSE scans.
• Side-by-side review by 9 neuroradiologists using a 5-point Likert scale for 10 image-quality metrics.

Main Results:

• Spiral imaging outperformed Cartesian in 7 of 10 metrics, including flow artifact mitigation, SNR, GM/WM contrast, image sharpness, lesion conspicuity, and overall intracranial image quality.
• Spiral imaging was comparable in motion artifacts but inferior in susceptibility artifacts and extracranial image quality.
• Neuroradiologists preferred spiral for diagnosing abnormal enhancement and overall intracranial evaluation.

Conclusions:

• Spiral 2D T1 spin-echo is a feasible technique for routine structural brain MR imaging on conventional scanners.
• Neuroradiologists showed a preference for spiral imaging in postcontrast intracranial evaluations.