A comparative analysis of double inversion recovery TFE and TSE sequences on carotid artery wall imaging

Objective

To analyze the characteristics of double inversion recovery (DIR) turbo field echo (TFE) and turbo spin echo (TSE) sequences and explore the value of double inversion recovery TFE sequence on carotid artery wall imaging.

Patients and methods

56 patients (32 males and 24 females, aged 31–76 years with a mean age of 53 years) were performed with DIR TFE and DIR TSE T1 weighted imaging (T1WI) sequences on carotid artery bifurcations. Image quality acquired by different techniques were evaluated and scored by two physicians. Whether there is significant difference is determined by SPSS 11.0 software. Paired-samples t test was used for statistics.

Results

There was no significant difference in the image quality scores between two sequences (t = 0.880, P = 0.383 > 0.05).

Conclusions

DIR TFE sequence has short scanning time and high spatial resolution. DIR TFE sequence can be used as the preferred sequence for screening carotid atherosclerotic plaque compared with DIR TSE sequence.