MR imaging of meniscal tears: comparison of intermediate-weighted FRFSE imaging with intermediate-weighted FSE imaging

Purpose

We compared intermediate-weighted fast spin-echo (IW-FSE) images with intermediate-weighted fast-recovery FSE (IW-FRFSE) images in the diagnosis of meniscal tears.

Materials and methods

First, 64 patients were recruited, and the arthroscopic findings (n?=?40) and image analysis (n?=?19) identified 59 torn menisci with 36 patients. Both the diagnostic performance and image quality in assessing meniscal tears was evaluated for IW-FSE and IW-FRFSE images using a four-point scale. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) calculation was performed for both sets of images.

Results

IW-FRFSE image specificity (100?%) for diagnosing the posterior horn of the medial meniscus (MM) tear with reader 1 was significantly higher than that of IW-FSE images (90?%). Mean ratings of the contrast between the lesion and normal signal intensity within the meniscus were significantly higher for the IW-FRFSE image ratings than the IW-FSE images in most meniscal tears. Mean SNRs were significantly higher for IW-FSE images than for IW-FRFSE images (P?<?0.05).

Conclusions

IW-FRFSE imaging can be used as an alternative to the IW-FSE imaging to evaluate meniscal tears.