Article Figures & Data
Figures
- FIG 1.
A 32-year-old patient with no lesion in the head and neck. Curved planar reformation MIP (2-mm layer thickness) of the mandibular nerve (blue triangle), inferior alveolar nerve (red thin arrow), and lingual nerve (yellow arrowhead) at the oblique coronary position. Both iMSDE 3D IR-TSE and CE 3D IR-TSE significantly improved visualization in assessing the inferior alveolar nerve and lingual nerve. CE indicates contrast-enhanced.
- FIG 2.
Comparisons of the visibility of 7 major peripheral branches of the trigeminal nerve and muscle/venous suppression among 3 sequences in 20 healthy subjects. The asterisk indicates P < .05; double asterisks, P < .01; triple asterisks, P < .001; CE, contrast-enhanced.
- FIG 3.
Comparisons of SNR, CRnv, CNRnv, CRnm, and CNRnm among 3 sequences in 20 subjects. The asterisk indicates P < .05; double asterisks, P < .01; triple asterisks, P < .001; CE, contrast-enhanced.
- FIG 4.
A 29-year-old patient with neurilemmoma. The sagittal image after MPR and MIP (3-mm layer thickness) shows that the neurilemmoma (blue triangle) compressed and moved the inferior alveolar nerve (red thin arrow) forward and the lingual nerve (yellow arrowhead) was not involved. Venous signals make nerves challenging to visualize on conventional 3D IR-TSE. CE indicates contrast-enhanced.
- FIG 5.
A 46-year-old patient with a large pituitary adenoma. The transverse image after MPR and MIP (3-mm layer thickness) demonstrates a large pituitary adenoma (blue triangle) invasion of the ophthalmic nerve (red thin arrow). The involved nerve and tumor are shown as low signal, which is difficult to identify on contrast-enhanced 3D IR-TSE. CE indicates contrast-enhanced.
Tables
Parameters of MR imaging
Parameter Conventional 3D IR-TSE iMSDE 3D IR-TSE CE 3D IR-TSE TR/TE (ms) 2800/181 2800/181 2800/181 Flip angle (degrees) Variable flip angle Variable flip angle Variable flip angle Field of view (mm) 200 × 200 200 × 200 200 × 200 Voxel size (mm) 0.9 × 0.9 × 0.9 0.9 × 0.9 × 0.9 0.9 × 0.9 × 0.9 No. of slices 210 210 210 Averages 2 2 2 Fat-suppression STIR STIR STIR iMSDE TEprep (ms) 60 / iMSDE VENC (cm/s) 0.35 Acquisition time (min/sec) 8 min 27 sec 8 min 27 sec 8 min 27 sec Note:—TEprep indicates magnetization preparation TE; VENC, velocity-encoded; CE, contrast-enhanced.
