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Published on: July 30, 2009
Ultrafast MRI for Pediatric Brain Assessment in Routine Clinical Practice
Hee Eun Moon1, Ji Young Ha2, Jae Won Choi1,3
1Department of Radiology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Insights
Ultrafast brain MRI drastically cuts scan times for pediatric patients, offering acceptable image quality and lesion detection. This rapid technique shows promise for evaluating brain abnormalities in children.
Area of Science:
- Radiology
- Pediatric Imaging
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Background:
- Pediatric brain MRI scans can be lengthy and challenging.
- Ultrafast MRI techniques offer potential for reduced scan times.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of ultrafast brain MRI in pediatric patients.
- To compare image quality and lesion detection between ultrafast and conventional MRI protocols.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective review of 194 pediatric patients (0-19 years) undergoing both MRI types.
- Assessment of qualitative image quality and quantitative lesion detection/size on various MRI sequences.
- Statistical analysis using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC).
Main Results:
- Ultrafast MRI reduced scan time from 15.5 minutes to under 2 minutes.
- Image quality was slightly lower in ultrafast MRI but lesion detection rates were high (e.g., 99.6% for T2WI, 100% for DWI).
- Excellent agreement (ICC > 0.99) for lesion size measurements between protocols for T1WI, T2WI, and FLAIR.
Conclusions:
- Ultrafast brain MRI is a feasible technique for pediatric patients.
- It significantly reduces scan time while maintaining acceptable diagnostic performance.
- This method shows potential for improving the efficiency of pediatric neuroimaging.
Objective:
To assess the feasibility of ultrafast brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in pediatric patients.
Materials And Methods:
We retrospectively reviewed 194 pediatric patients aged 0 to 19 years (median 10.2 years) who underwent both ultrafast and conventional brain MRI between May 2019 and August 2020. Ultrafast MRI sequences included T1 and T2-weighted images (T1WI and T2WI), fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR), T2*-weighted image (T2*WI), and diffusion-weighted image (DWI). Qualitative image quality and lesion evaluations were conducted on 5-point Likert scales by two blinded radiologists, with quantitative assessment of lesion count and size on T1WI, T2WI, and FLAIR sequences for each protocol. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) analyses were used for comparison.
Results:
The total scan times for equivalent image contrasts were 1 minute 44 seconds for ultrafast MRI and 15 minutes 30 seconds for conventional MRI. Overall, image quality was lower in ultrafast MRI than in conventional MRI, with mean quality scores ranging from 2.0 to 4.8 for ultrafast MRI and 4.8 to 5.0 for conventional MRI across sequences (P < 0.001 for T1WI, T2WI, FLAIR, and T2*WI for both readers; P = 0.018 [reader 1] and 0.031 [reader 2] for DWI). Lesion detection rates on ultrafast MRI relative to conventional MRI were as follows: T1WI, 97.1%; T2WI, 99.6%; FLAIR, 92.9%; T2*WI, 74.1%; and DWI, 100%. The ICC (95% confidence interval) for lesion size measurements between ultrafast and conventional MRI was as follows: T1WI, 0.998 (0.996-0.999); T2WI, 0.998 (0.997-0.999); and FLAIR, 0.99 (0.985-0.994).
Conclusion:
Ultrafast MRI significantly reduces scan time and provides acceptable results, albeit with slightly lower image quality than conventional MRI, for evaluating intracranial abnormalities in pediatric patients.
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