Reduction of procedure times in routine clinical practice with Compressed SENSE magnetic resonance imaging technique.

Abstract

ObjectivesAcceleration of MR sequences beyond current parallel imaging techniques is possible with the Compressed SENSE technique that has recently become available for 1.5 and 3 Tesla scanners, for nearly all image contrasts and for 2D and 3D sequences. The impact of this technique on examination timing parameters and MR protocols in a clinical setting was investigated in this retrospective study.Material and methodsA numerical analysis of the examination timing parameters (scan time, exam time, procedure time, interscan delay time, changeover time, nonscan time) based on the MR protocols of 6 different body regions (brain, knee, lumbar spine, breast, shoulder) using MR log files was performed and the total number of examinations acquired from January to April both in 2017 and 2018 on a 1.5 T MR scanner was registered. Percentages, box plots and unpaired two-sided t tests were obtained for statistical evaluation.ResultsAll examination timing parameters of the six anatomical regions analysed were significantly shortened after implementation of Compressed SENSE. On average, scan times were accelerated by 20.2% (pConclusionCompressed SENSE allows for a significant acceleration of MR examinations and a considerable increase in the total number of MR examinations is possible.