Improved fat suppression in STIR MR imaging: selecting inversion time through spectral display.

By observing the fat-signal peak on the spectral display of a magnetic resonance (MR) imager while varying inversion time (TI), the authors determined the TI that produced the lowest fat peak for the best suppression of fat signal in subsequent short-TI inversion-recovery (STIR) MR imaging. In 25 volunteers who underwent imaging at multiple TIs, the TI that produced the lowest measured fat signal intensity was the same as that selected by means of TI tuning in 60% of cases and was within 5 msec in the remaining 40%.

Comparison of STIR and spin-echo MR imaging at 1.5 T in 90 lesions of the chest, liver, and pelvis.

Short TI inversion recovery (STIR) produces both fat suppression and the additive effect of T1 and T2 mechanisms on tissue brightening, in contrast to the subtractive effect of these two mechanisms on spin-echo sequences. In order to compare STIR and spin-echo imaging, we reviewed 90 lesions detected in 76 consecutive MR studies of the chest, liver, or pelvis performed at 1.5 T with both STIR and double-echo spin-echo techniques.

Use of a power injector during dynamic computed tomography.

We instituted the use of a power injector during dynamic body CT to improve control of the rate of contrast injection, to make it unnecessary for a technologist to remain in the gantry room during scanning, and to make it possible for one technologist to simultaneously perform the injection and operate the scanner. We analyzed the first 240 cases using the power injector for quality of contrast enhancement and frequency of complications, including contrast material extravasation into soft tissues. Ninety-seven percent of the studies had enhancement judged good, very good, or excellent.