Comparison of the SPIR and STIR MR Pulse Sequences in an Oil and Water Phantom

Abstract

The coexistence of fat and water in the human body causes difficulties in obtaining accurate images using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This study evaluated the usefulness of the spectral pre-saturation inversion recovery (SPIR) and short TI inversion recovery (STIR) pulse sequences in suppressing fat. MRI of a water-oil phantom was performed using an Ingenia 3.0-T scanner (Philips Medical Systems, Best, The Netherlands). For quantitative evaluation of the images, the plot profile, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) were measured and compared using ImageJ program (NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA). The SNR for water was higher by 56.04 % on STIR (403.59) than on SPIR (258.64). The SNR for fat was higher by 52.10 % on STIR (17.34) than on SPIR (11.40). The CNR was higher by 24.87 % on STIR (308.75) than on SPIR (247.24). Compared to SPIR, the STIR pulse sequence showed a better fat clearing effect. Therefore, it is necessary to select the appropriate fat suppression method according to the clinical necessity.