Quantitative Analysis of the Diffusion-Weighted Steady-State Free Precession Signal in Vertebral Bone Marrow Lesions

Abstract

: Although the ADCs of the evaluated malignant and benign VLs showed highly significant differences, the influence of diffusion on the DW-SSFP signal contrast is relatively low compared with other tissue parameters due to the very complex signal mechanism of the SSFP sequence. Thus, the observed DW-SSFP signal contrast of different VLs (hypo-/isointense vs. hyperintense signal) is rather fat- and T2*-weighted than diffusion-weighted. The intermediate diffusion weighting of the applied SSFP sequence, however, helps to shift the different contrasts into a signal range that is easily visually accessible.