Optimization Image Quality of Knee MRI Sagital Plane T2 Weighted TSE Sequences with Variations of Echo Train Length (ETL) on Cartesian and Blade Technique

¹ Radiodiagnostic and Radiotheraphy Department, Poltekkes Kemenkes Semarang, Indonesia
² Radiology Depertment, Dr. Ramelan Navy Hospital, Surabaya, Indosesia

^* Corresponding author: riniindrati@poltekkes-smg.ac.id

Abstract

The use of Cartesian and Blade techniques also affects image quality. The Cartesian technique is more commonly used in Knee MRI examinations. Cartesian technique is vulnerable to movement, giving rise to motion artifacts. This motion artifact is often caused by too long scanning time, so ETL settings are important. An alternative to reducing this risk is to use the Blade technique and by setting the appropriate ETL. The research objective was to determine the differences image quality and anatomical information and to determine the technique that produced quality images and MRI anatomical information on the sagittal knee section between the Cartesian ETL and Blade T2 Weighted TSE combination. This is experiment research. Samples of 10 volunteers, carried out scanning with Cartesian and Blade techniques with variations ETL 14, 16, 18. Focus of assessment on ACL, PCL, meniscus, fluid, and fat. Image quality includes SNR and CNR. The assessment of the anatomical information by a radiologist. Data analyzed with Anova, Friedman, and Wilcoxon test. The results study showed that overall, there are significant differences in image quality between Cartesian and Blade techniques with p-value 0.005. There are differences in anatomical information with p-value <0.001. The best technique from image quality (SNR and CNR) is Cartesian-ETL 14 and based on anatomical information, the best technique is using Blade-ETL 14. Image quality in the two techniques with ETL 14 there is no significant difference with p-value of 0.414, so that Cartesian and Blade-ETL 14 settings produce the same image quality.