Fat Suppression MRI Techniques

Abstract

Background:   Fat suppression is a widely used technique in magnetic resonance imaging (MR) to eliminate the signal originating from adipose tissue. It applies to both T1W and T2W sequences.  Suppression of fat can be accomplished in several ways. The goal of the fat suppression (contrast enhancement vs. tissue characterization), the quantity of fat in the tissue under study, the magnet's field intensity, and the homogeneity of the primary magnetic field should all be taken into consideration when choosing a procedure. This technique's main limitations are that it is not very reliable when employed with low-field-strength magnets, and it is sensitive to magnetic field inhomogeneity and misregistration artifacts. Inversion-recovery imaging enables both homogenous and global suppression of fat and can be used with low-field-strength magnets. However, this technique is not fat-specific, and there can be misunderstandings about the difference in signal intensity between tissue with a long T1 and tissue with a short T1. Opposed-phase imaging technology is rapid and simple to use. It is recommended to demonstrate lesions with traces of fat using this method. The main drawback of opposed-phase imaging is its inability to reliably detect small tumors embedded in adipose tissue.