Simultaneous multi-slice accelerated turbo spin echo of the knee in pediatric patients.

PURPOSE: To compare knee MRI performed with the integrated parallel acquisition technique (PAT) and simultaneous multislice (SMS) turbo spin echo (TSE) T2-weighted (T2w) sequences with conventional TSE sequences in pediatric patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective IRB-approved study. Seventy-four subjects (26 male, 48 female, mean age 15.3 years, range 8-20) underwent 3-T MRI of the knee with a T2w TSE pulse sequence prototype with four-fold PAT and SMS acceleration as well as the standard PAT-only accelerated sequences. Images were anonymized and two study folders were created: one examination with only T2w PAT2 images (conventional examination) and one examination with only T2w SMS2/PAT2 sequences (SMS examination). Two readers rated examinations for 15 specific imaging findings and 5 quality metrics. Interreader agreement was measured. Signal to noise (SNR) and contrast to noise (CNR) were measured for SMS and conventional T2w sequences. RESULTS: Consensus review demonstrated diagnostic quality performance of SMS examinations with respect to all 15 structures. Average area under the curve (AROC) was 0.95 and 0.97 for readers 1 and 2, respectively. The conventional sequence was favored over SMS for four out of five quality metrics (p < 0.001). SNR and CNR were higher for the conventional sequences compared to SMS. CONCLUSION: SMS accelerated T2w TSE sequences offer a faster alternative for knee imaging in pediatric patients without compromise in diagnostic performance despite diminished SNR. The four-fold acceleration of SMS is beneficial to pediatric patients who often have difficulty staying still for long MRI examinations.

Solid Pseudo-Papillary Tumor Mimicking as Complicated Pseudocyst: Multimodality Imaging and Pathological Correlation.

Pancreatic neoplasm is very rare in the pediatric population. Malignant tumors represent less than 0.2% of pediatric cancer-related mortality. Pancreas lesions can be from exocrine or endocrine origin or present themselves as cystic masses. Clinical, biological, and radiological findings usually are sufficient to establish diagnosis, but in some cases, they may be misleading. We present the case of a young patient presenting a pancreatic mass where anatomical and metabolic characteristics of the lesion were discordant to the final diagnosis.