[Investigating the Usefulness of Breath-holding Instructions by Change in the Room Light for the Hearing Impaired].

Purpose: In imaging examinations of patients with hearing impairment, poor image quality due to poor respiratory arrest is a problem directly related to diagnostic imaging. Although there have been studies of non-sound instructions, there have been few quantitative studies using changes in brightness. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether changes in room brightness can be used as a respiratory cessation indicator.

Methods: Fourteen patients were imaged using the 2D FIESTA and LAVA-Flex methods on an MRI system under free respiration, voice-guided cessation of respiration (voice instruction), and room brightness change (light/dark instruction), and compared.

Results: The positional fluctuation of the top of the liver by the 2D FIESTA method showed a large positional fluctuation under free breathing, while the positional fluctuation was small under voice instruction and light/dark instruction. The images obtained by the LAVA-Flex method was significantly degraded by motion artifacts under free breathing, whereas there were fewer motion artifacts under voice instruction and light/dark instruction, and the two were the same with no significant difference in visual evaluation.

Conclusion: The visual cessation of respiration instruction by changing the brightness of the room is as effective as the audible cessation of respiration instruction, suggesting that it can be applied clinically.