Quantitative and qualitative conspicuity assessment
| CR Median (IQR) | CNR Median (IQR) | Visual Score | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Besta | Intermediate | Worst | |||
| All CELs (n = 54) | |||||
| 3D-IR GRE MPRAGE | 80.88 (43.71–125.65) | 10.02 (5.71–16.06) | 15 (27.8%) | 26 (48.1%) | 13 (24.1%) |
| 3D-TSE SPACE | 100.92b,c (73–191.59) | 19.17b,c (13.21–36.01) | 54 (100%) | 0 | 0 |
| 3D-GRE VIBE | 85.86b,c (43.71–135.22) | 16.76b,c (11–37.22) | 24 (44.4%)b | 25 (46.3%) | 5 (9.3%)b |
| Gliomas (n = 38) | |||||
| 3D-IR GRE MPRAGE | 90.01 (48.29–125.21) | 10.51 (5.68–17.33) | 9 (23.7%) | 19 (50%) | 10 (26.3%) |
| 3D-TSE SPACE | 125.64b,c (88.41–187.45) | 24.46b,c (12.55–41.23) | 38 (100%) | 0 | 0 |
| 3D-GRE VIBE | 94.19b,c (58.34–88.95) | 16.22d,c (9.89–27.25) | 16 (42.1%)d | 18 (47.4%) | 4 (10.5%)d |
| Metastases (n = 16) | |||||
| 3D-IR GRE MPRAGE | 54.71 (35.24–130.01) | 9.30 (6.77–12.29) | 6 (37.5%) | 7 (43.8%) | 3 (18.8%) |
| 3D-TSE SPACE | 80.04b,c (63.13–200) | 17.15b,c (13.63–21.26) | 16 (100%) | 0 | 0 |
| 3D-GRE VIBE | 72.95b,c (54.19–154.43) | 17.26b,c (12.14–31.18) | 8 (50%) | 7 (43.8%) | 1 (6.3%) |
Note:—IR indicates inversion recovery; GRE, gradient recalled-echo; CR, contrast rate; CNR, contrast-to-noise ratio; IQR, interquartile range.
↵a Because SPACE in the visual assessment was constantly rated as best in all cases, no statistical comparison tests were performed in this analysis.
↵b P < .001.
↵c P ≤ .01 (adjusted for the order of sequence acquisition; FSL General Linear Model).
↵d P = .001 (compared with MPRAGE, Wilcoxon test).