Synthetic MRI of the lumbar spine at 3.0 T: feasibility and image quality comparison with conventional MRI

Synthetic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which can generate multiple morphologic MR images as well as quantitative maps from a single sequence, is not widely used in the spine at 3.0 T.

To investigate the feasibility of synthetic MRI of the lumbar spine in clinical practice at 3.0 T.

Eighty-four patients with lumbar diseases underwent conventional T1-weighted images, T2-weighted images, short-tau inversion recovery (STIR) images, and synthetic MRI of the lumbar spine at 3.0 T. The quantitative and qualitative image quality and agreement for detection of spinal lesions between conventional and synthetic MRI were compared by two radiologists.

The signal-to-noise ratios of synthetic MRI showed an inferior image quality in the vertebrae and disc, whereas were higher for spinal canal and fat on the synthetic T1-weighted, T2-weighted, and STIR images. The contrast-to-noise ratios of the synthetic MRI was superior to conventional sequences, except for the vertebrae–disc contrast-to-noise ratio on T1-weighted imaging (P = 0.005). Image quality assessments showed that synthetic MRI had greater STIR fat suppression (P < 0.001) and fluid brightness (P = 0.014), as well as higher degree of artifacts (P < 0.001) and worse spatial resolution (P = 0.002). The inter-method agreements for detection of spinal lesions were substantial to perfect (kappa, 0.614–0.925).

Synthetic MRI is a feasible method for lumbar spine imaging in a clinical setting at 3.0-T MR. It provides morphologic sequences with acceptable image quality, good agreement with conventional MRI for detection of spinal lesions and quantitative image maps with a slightly shorter acquisition time compared with conventional MRI.