COMPARISON OF 3D T2-WEIGHTED SEQUENCE WITH CONVENTIONAL 2D MRI SEQUENCES IN THE ASSESSMENT OF SHOULDER JOINT PATHOLOGIES

Abstract

Background: Conventional 2D MR protocol routinely used in the institutions for assessment of shoulder joint pathologies have good tissue contrast and in-plane spatial resolution, but they must be repeated in several planes which takes more examination time, and the thicker slices can miss some pathologies due to partial volume averaging. Instead, procuring thin slices is possible with 3D acquisition and can be post-processed into other planes using multiplanar reformation techniques, thereby reducing overall examination time and provides good patient compliance, fewer motion artefacts. This study's goal is to determine the agreement between conventional 2D sequences and 3D T2 weighted sequence in the assessment of rotator cuff and other shoulder joint pathologies. 50 patients with suspected shoulde Methods: r joint pathologies were examined with 2D and 3D protocol in the same session. In the assessment of shoulder joint pathologies, agreement between T2-weighted 3D sequence and conventional 2D sequences is evaluated with kappa statistics. Diagnostic accuracy of T2-weighted 3D sequence with conventional 2D sequences as standard of reference is evaluated using McNemar and Chi square test. Perfe Results: ct agreement (k=1.00) between 2D and 3D sequences seen in the assessment of full thickness tears of supraspinatus and infraspinatus, partial thickness tears of subscapularis, tendinitis of rotator cuff muscles, biceps tendon, AC joint, bursitis and joint effusion. Strong agreement is seen with assessment of partial thickness tears of supraspinatus (k=0.811), moderate agreement with articular cartilage lesions (k=0.79) and bone marrow edema (k=0.779). Perfect agreement is Conclusion: seen between 2D and 3D sequences in the assessment of most of the rotator cuff and other shoulder pathologies in our series. With 3D sequence being capable of reducing overall examination time, it provides more patient compliance and reduced motion artefacts. We recommend further studies with arthroscopy as gold standard before relying purely on 3D sequence for shoulder evaluation.