[Clinical efficacy of 3D-MR cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) with the T2Plus technique].

The T2Plus technique is an MR method in which longitudinal magnetization is recovered by the application of a -90 degrees radiofrequency pulse in the recovery period after data acquisition. The present study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of the 3D-fast advanced spin echo (FASE) sequence with T2Plus technique in improving the image quality of respiratory-triggered 3D-MRCP. We performed a phantom study and clinical study in 60 cases. In the clinical study, ERCP and CT images were used as the gold standard for evaluating visualization of the pancreato-biliary system with the T2Plus technique. In the phantom study, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of distilled water was higher in the shorter TR owing to the effectiveness of the T2Plus technique. The contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of the biliary tract and the pancreatic duct to the liver were significantly higher (P<0.05) with the T2Plus technique. On visual evaluation by two experienced abdominal radiologists, the left and right hepatic duct, common hepatic duct, common bile duct, main pancreatic duct, and accessory pancreatic duct were visualized more clearly with the T2Plus technique (P<0.05). Improvement of the image quality of MRCP can be obtained by applying the T2Plus technique.