Purpose: Spinal cord and nerves are best visualized by MRI, which is able to show structural and functional anomalies of the spine. The primary objective of this study is to identify advantages or disadvantages of the T1-weighted fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) sequence with BLADE technique (T1W-FLAIR BLADE), with and without parallel imaging when compared with T1 Turbo Spin Echo (T1 TSE) sequence when performing MRI examination of the lumbar spine in a sagittal view.

Methods: L-spine examinations with T1W-FLAIR BLADE (with and without parallel imaging) and T1 TSE were acquired on 44 patients using a 1.5T scanner. These sequences were assessed by two radiologists a) quantitatively by comparing the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and relative contrast (ReCon) measurements and b) qualitatively based on different features of the images such as cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) nulling.

Results: The quantitative analysis showed that T1W-FLAIR BLADE in most tissues had better SNR values, as well as better CNR and ReCon results. SNR and CNR measurements were also better in T1W-FLAIR BLADE images with parallel imaging compared to T1 TSE. In the qualitative analysis, it was found that T1W-FLAIR BLADE sequence had superior quality of images, better contrast among tissues, and better nulling of CSF.

Conclusion: T1W-FLAIR BLADE appeared to have less motion artifacts and improved image quality, as well as improved CSF nulling. T1W-FLAIR BLADE with parallel imaging achieved the second best results out of the sequences compared. The clinicians showed a preference for T1W-FLAIR BLADE images which could be a useful addition to the standard imaging of the L-spine.

1.5T MRI, Motion artifacts, BLADE sequences, Lumbar spine examination