Role of Double Inversion Recovery Sequence in Neuro-imaging on 3 Tesla MRI

Double Inversion Recovery (DIR) is a robust sequence designed to suppress fat and water signals using two 180° inversion pulses to produce prominent gray matter contrast with high spatial resolution. It has proven to be more sensitive in delineating white matter signal abnormalities than conventional MR techniques. In our study, the highest image contrast with lesion load was observed using DIR over FLAIR and T2 weighted imaging. DIR is evidently valuable for the detection of demyelinating lesions observed in multiple sclerosis (MS), malignancies, epileptogenic foci, and cortical anomalies. Hence this pictorial review is intended to assess the diagnostic efficacy of DIR modality in clinical Neuro-imaging.