BLADE for T1-weighted contrast with spectral fat suppression: two different approaches for head and neck imaging

INTRODUCTION: Up to now, Periodically Rotated Overlapping ParallEL Lines with Enhanced Reconstruction (PROPELLER) or BLADE imaging has been applied to reduce motion artifacts mainly in T2-weighted imaging. Using an inversion pulse at the beginning of the sequence results in T1-weighted contrast – this technique has been evaluated for T1-weighted imaging in the brain after application of contrast agent for detection of brain metastases. Contrast-enhanced coronal T1-weighted sequences with spectral fat suppression are an essential part of head and neck MR imaging. But this techniques is extremely susceptible to flow artifacts (neck vessles) and motion artifacts (swallowing) – even in cooperative patients. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate if BLADE imaging might be helpful in a routine clinical setting to improve image quality and diagnostic reliability. Two different approaches to reach T1-weighted contrast in BLADE with spectral fat suppression were tested.