Nobuo Kashiwagi1, Yuichi Yamashita2, Hitoshi Watanabe3, Hisashi Tanaka1, Katsusuke Kyotani2, Hiroto Takahashi1, Chisato Matsuo1, Takehisa Sakisuka1, Azusa Miura1, Masahiro Fujiwara1, Atsuko Arisawa 1, and Noriyuki Tomiyama1
1Osaka University Graduate School of Mediine, Suita, Japan, 2Canon Medical Systems Corporation, Otawara, Japan, 3Department of Radiology, Yukoukai General Hospital, Ibaraki, Japan
1Osaka University Graduate School of Mediine, Suita, Japan, 2Canon Medical Systems Corporation, Otawara, Japan, 3Department of Radiology, Yukoukai General Hospital, Ibaraki, Japan
The diagnostic performance of a proposed ultrafast lumbar MRI protocol with a total acquisition time of 1 minute 53 seconds was highly concordant with that of the standard protocol with that of 12 minutes 31 seconds.
Figure 1. Scan protocol
Figure 2. A 67-year-old woman with severe back pain.
Standard sagittal STIR image (scan time, 3:30 minutes) shows diffuse hyperintensity and a low-intensity line in the 12th thoracic vertebra, suggesting an acute compression fracture. The ultrafast STIR image (0:32 seconds) shows the equivalent lesion almost as clearly.