Comparison of short inversion time inversion recovery (STIR) and fat-saturated (chemsat) techniques for background fat intensity suppression in cervical and thoracic MR imaging.

The purpose of this study was to compare short inversion time inversion recovery (STIR) fast spin-echo (FSE), and fat-saturated T2-weighted FSE sequences in terms of uniformity of fat suppression and lesion conspicuity for magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of the neck and thorax. STIR FSE and fat-saturated T2-weighted FSE images were scored for uniformity of fat suppression (n = 40) and lesion conspicuity (n = 35). Five-point rank score analyses were utilized by three experienced radiologists. The mean scores of STIR and fat-saturated FSE techniques for uniformity of fat suppression were 4.3 and 2.3, respectively (P < 0.0001). The mean scores of STIR and fat-saturated FSE techniques for lesion conspicuity were 4.2 and 3.5, respectively (P < 0.0001). Insufficient fat suppression was prominent in the mandible, supraclavicular region, anterior mediastinum, epipericardial fat, and subdiaphragmatic fat. In addition, fat-saturated T2-weighted FSE showed inadvertent water suppression in 25%. The STIR FSE technique was superior to the fat-saturated FSE technique for cervical and thoracic MR imaging.