Comparison of Fluid Attenuated Inversion Recovery Sequence with Spin Echo T2-Weighted MRI for Characterization of Brain Pathology

TL;DR

This study compares FLAIR and T2-weighted MRI sequences in 20 brain pathology cases, finding FLAIR more effective for lesion detection due to its ability to null CSF and fat signals.

Contribution

It demonstrates that FLAIR imaging provides superior lesion detection over T2-weighted MRI in brain pathology using a 0.2 Tesla magnet.

Findings

FLAIR nulls CSF at TI ~1.5 sec

FLAIR nulls fat at TI ~0.10 sec

FLAIR sequence is more useful for lesion detection

Abstract

Twenty cases of different brain pathology have been studied via MRI using an open resistive magnet with magnetic field strength of 0.2 Tesla. The relative signal intensity with respect to the repetition time (TR) at fixed echo time (TE) 0.117 sec. has been studied. It was found that the signal intensity saturates for most lesions beyond a certain TR~6 sec in the T2 - weighted image. The signal intensity differs with respect to the inversion time (TI) for fat and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). It was found that the intensity is nulled for CSF at TI ~1.5 sec. and for Fat at TI~0.10 sec in the FLAIR imaging sequence. Thus the intensity of the lesions is qualitatively different for the two sequences. From the radiological diagnostic point of view, it was concluded that the FLAIR sequence is more useful for the detection of lesions compared to T2 sequences.