Compressed Sensing Technology Accelerated 3D-FLAIR MRI Sequence for Endolymphatic Hydrops at 3T

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: 3D-FLAIR sequence has an important contribution to the display of endolymphatic hydrops (EH) in Meniere disease (MD), but its clinical application is limited because of the long acquisition time. We investigated whether 3D-FLAIR combined with compressed sensing (CS) technology (3D-FLAIR-CS) can shorten the scan time while maintaining the image quality and diagnostic efficiency for EH.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective study included 50 patients with unilateral definite MD who underwent 3T MR imaging 4 hours after gadolinium injection using traditional 3D-FLAIR (10 minutes 35 seconds) and 3D-FLAIR-CS (5 minutes 25 seconds). Image quality was assessed using quantitative (the contrast-to-noise ratio [CNR], SNR, and signal intensity ratio [SIR]) and qualitative methods. The chi-square test compared the diagnostic efficacy of the sequences, paired t tests analyzed quantitative differences, and intra-/interobserver agreement was evaluated using the weighted kappa statistic.

RESULTS: Among 50 patients (23 men, 27 women; 27 left ears, 23 right ears), no significant differences were found between the 2 sequences in image quality or diagnosing EH (P >.05). There were no statistically significant differences in CNR (affected side: P = .09; asymptomatic side: P = .07), SNR (affected side: P = .12; asymptomatic side: P = .10), and SIR (affected side: P = .13; asymptomatic side: P = .45) between traditional 3D-FLAIR and 3D-FLAIR-CS, and both sequences exhibited excellent intra- and interobserver agreement (kappa >0.80).

CONCLUSIONS: Acquisition time for the 3D-FLAIR-CS sequence is reduced by a factor of about 2 compared to traditional 3D-FLAIR, while image quality and diagnostic efficacy in the assessment of EH are the same.