Performance of TGSE BLADE DWI compared with RESOLVE DWI in the diagnosis of cholesteatoma.BACKGROUND
 The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of the 2D turbo gradient- and spin-echo (TGSE) diffusion-weighted (DW) pulse sequence with the BLADE trajectory technique in the diagnosis of cholesteatoma at 3 T and to qualitatively and quantitatively compare image quality between the TGSE BLADE and RESOLVE methods.


 All patients underwent DWI (both a prototype TGSE BLADE DWI sequence and the RESOLVE DWI sequence) using a 3-T scanner with a 64-channel brain coil.  A comparison of qualitative scores indicated that TGSE BLADE DWI produced less geometric distortion, fewer ghosting artifacts (P < 0.001) and higher image quality (P < 0.001) than were observed for RESOLVE DWI.  A comparison of the evaluated quantitative image parameters between TGSE and RESOLVE showed that TGSE BLADE DWI produced a significantly lower SNR (P < 0.001) and higher parameter values (both contrast and CNR (P < 0.001)) than were found for RESOLVE DWI.  The ADC (P < 0.001) was significantly lower for TGSE BLADE DWI (0.763 × 10- 3 mm2/s) than RESOLVE DWI (0.928 × 10- 3 mm2/s).


 Compared with RESOLVE DWI, TGSE BLADE DWI significantly improved the image quality of cholesteatoma by reducing magnetic sensitive artifacts, distortion, and blurring.  TGSE BLADE DWI is more valuable than RESOLVE DWI for the diagnosis of small-sized (2 mm) cholesteatoma lesions.  However, TGSE BLADE DWI also has some disadvantages: the whole image intensity is slightly low, so that the anatomical details of the air-bone interface are not shown well, and this shortcoming should be improved in the future.
TGSE
Performance of TGSE BLADE DWI compared with RESOLVE DWI in the diagnosis of cholesteatoma.BACKGROUND
 The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of the 2D turbo gradient- and spin-echo (TGSE) diffusion-weighted (DW) pulse sequence with the BLADE trajectory technique in the diagnosis of cholesteatoma at 3 T and to qualitatively and quantitatively compare image quality between the TGSE BLADE and RESOLVE methods.


 All patients underwent DWI (both a prototype TGSE BLADE DWI sequence and the RESOLVE DWI sequence) using a 3-T scanner with a 64-channel brain coil.  A comparison of qualitative scores indicated that TGSE BLADE DWI produced less geometric distortion, fewer ghosting artifacts (P < 0.001) and higher image quality (P < 0.001) than were observed for RESOLVE DWI.  A comparison of the evaluated quantitative image parameters between TGSE and RESOLVE showed that TGSE BLADE DWI produced a significantly lower SNR (P < 0.001) and higher parameter values (both contrast and CNR (P < 0.001)) than were found for RESOLVE DWI.  The ADC (P < 0.001) was significantly lower for TGSE BLADE DWI (0.763 × 10- 3 mm2/s) than RESOLVE DWI (0.928 × 10- 3 mm2/s).


 Compared with RESOLVE DWI, TGSE BLADE DWI significantly improved the image quality of cholesteatoma by reducing magnetic sensitive artifacts, distortion, and blurring.  TGSE BLADE DWI is more valuable than RESOLVE DWI for the diagnosis of small-sized (2 mm) cholesteatoma lesions. 
RESOLVE
Based on its high resolution in soft tissue, MRI, especially diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), is increasingly important in the evaluation of cholesteatoma. 
MRI
Performance of TGSE BLADE DWI compared with RESOLVE DWI in the diagnosis of cholesteatoma.BACKGROUND
 Based on its high resolution in soft tissue, MRI, especially diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), is increasingly important in the evaluation of cholesteatoma.  All patients underwent DWI (both a prototype TGSE BLADE DWI sequence and the RESOLVE DWI sequence) using a 3-T scanner with a 64-channel brain coil.  A comparison of qualitative scores indicated that TGSE BLADE DWI produced less geometric distortion, fewer ghosting artifacts (P < 0.001) and higher image quality (P < 0.001) than were observed for RESOLVE DWI.  A comparison of the evaluated quantitative image parameters between TGSE and RESOLVE showed that TGSE BLADE DWI produced a significantly lower SNR (P < 0.001) and higher parameter values (both contrast and CNR (P < 0.001)) than were found for RESOLVE DWI.  The ADC (P < 0.001) was significantly lower for TGSE BLADE DWI (0.763 × 10- 3 mm2/s) than RESOLVE DWI (0.928 × 10- 3 mm2/s).


 Compared with RESOLVE DWI, TGSE BLADE DWI significantly improved the image quality of cholesteatoma by reducing magnetic sensitive artifacts, distortion, and blurring.  TGSE BLADE DWI is more valuable than RESOLVE DWI for the diagnosis of small-sized (2 mm) cholesteatoma lesions.  However, TGSE BLADE DWI also has some disadvantages: the whole image intensity is slightly low, so that the anatomical details of the air-bone interface are not shown well, and this shortcoming should be improved in the future.
DWI