The comparison of the efficacy of the single shot spin echo, Fiesta, and Propeller T2-weighted MRI sequences in the detection of focal liver lesions

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare the signal characteristics of liver lesions and the difference between interpreters in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) T2-PROPELLER, T2-FIESTA, and T2-SSFSE sequences. Materials and Methods: This study was performed with upper abdominal MR images examined between January 2014-July 2016 at Adana Numune Training and Research Hospital were included in the study. Liver lesions with a diameter of 5 mm or more were taken into consideration, there was no upper limit on lesion size. Up to 4 lesions were evaluated in patients with more than one liver lesion. Focal liver lesions were categorized into 5 groups according to signal properties. The interpreters blindly evaluated the sequences, without priorly knowing if the patients had liver lesions or not. Results: 301 lesions were included in the study. 63 (36%) of the patients were males, while 110 (64%) were females. The ages of the patients varied between 19 and 90 years. 40 (13.3%) of the lesions were malignant, while 261 (86.7%) were benign. Of the 301 lesions, 148 (49.2%) were hemangiomas, 90 (29.9%) were cysts, and 32 (10.6%) were metastases. In comparison of signal characteristics of lesions, the intraclass correlation coefficient of the repeated measurement analysis was found to be 0.962. Conclusion: There was no significant difference in characterizing the signal characteristic of the lesions between the sequences.