MRI SEQUENCES

menkris · Joined: 22 Sep 2008 Posts: 1

Hello all. I am a newbie to imaging, and came to this site to post my query.
Can someone here tell me how to recognise MRI sequences. If a study has T1, T2, and say, FLAIR. How do we recognise FLAIR. I know how to look at an image and using indicators like CSF can distinguish between T1 and T2. But how do we recognize other complex sequences like FISP, FLAIR, etc by simply viewing the image. Say an image is put up as a spotter, how can I know which sequence was used to create that image?

Any and all help is much appreciated. If you could also direct me to sites that have this sort of learning aid (not on sequences but in their recognition and identification), I will be grateful. Thanks in advance

mrphys · Joined: 12 Sep 2008 Posts: 8

Hi,

My reply won't be any help but I just want to say that I'm also interested in the same question.

T1, T2, T2*, and PD are weightings, whereas FLAIR and FISP are actual sequence types. So I wonder if you can actually determine the sequence from the image? I think different sequences are able to produce different weightings.

Also, it may be important to consider that the 'brightness' is all relative to other structures also being imaged. This is because the Window/Level is adjusted to get the best view. So wheather something appears dark or bright may depend on its neighbours.

I wonder also about the weighting in FLAIR. For example in the brain, when using a TI of 2500 ms to supress CSF have the other tissues then fully recovered? If you then had a short TE would you then have a T1-weighted image with dark CSF or would it be PD-weighted?

Anyway, I too have many questions...

Greetings.