Enhanced Neonatal Brachial Plexus MR Neurography: A Comparative Analysis of Compressed Sensitivity Encoding versus Sensitivity Encoding.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Neonatal brachial plexus imaging faces challenges with extended scan times and motion artifacts. This study assessed whether compressed sensitivity encoding (CS) acceleration could achieve image quality comparable with conventional sensitivity encoding (SENSE) while significantly reducing scanning time, potentially enhancing diagnostic accuracy and success rates in neonatal brachial plexus imaging.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

Forty-five neonates (18 male, 27 female; mean age 14.82 ± 9.62 days) with clinical suspicion of brachial plexus nerve injury were examined by using both CS and SENSE 3D NerveVIEW sequences on a 3T MRI scanner. The parallel acquisition acceleration factor was 1.3 for SENSE and 6 for CS. Image quality was evaluated quantitatively by using SNR and nerve-to-muscle contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and qualitatively through a 5-point semiquantitative scale assessment by 2 senior pediatric radiologists.

RESULTS

CS reduced acquisition time by approximately 30% (3:36 versus 5:08 minutes) compared with SENSE, without compromising image quality. No significant differences were found in SNR and nerve-to-muscle CNR between CS and SENSE, with equivalence testing confirming comparable image quality (SNR: t(44) = 3.109, P = .002; nerve-to-muscle CNR: t(44) = 1.984, P = .03). Radiologists' subjective evaluations revealed no significant difference in image quality scores between CS and SENSE, with strong interrater agreement for both methods (CS: κ = 0.773; SENSE: κ = 0.617).

CONCLUSIONS

Implementation of CS technology in 3D NerveVIEW sequences for neonatal brachial plexus imaging is feasible and effective, providing image quality comparable to SENSE while significantly reducing scanning time. This advancement potentially improves patient outcomes through higher success rates in imaging examinations.