Role of Fat and Water Suppression MRI Techniques in Diagnosis of Optic Neuritis

The study aimed to demonstrate the benefits of T2-SPIR and SPIR-FLAIR sequences (fat and water suppressed MRI techniques) in diagnosis of optic neuritis.The study included 4 healthy volunteers and 10 patients (10 nerves). All patients had abnormalities of visual evoked potential and fulfilled the clinical criteria for diagnosis of optic neuritis. MRI was performed with 1.5-T Philips unit. All patients subjected to MRI examination within 4 weeks of clinical and visual evoked potential diagnosis. Axial, sagittal and coronal images were obtained throughout the course of optic nerves with use of three sequences: (1) T1 and T2 with fast spin-echo (SE) acquisition. (2) Selective partial inversion recovery (SPIR) prepared T2 weighted fast SE acquisition. (3) SPIR-FLAIR (fluid attenuation inversion recovery) with fast SE acquisition. (4) Axial FLAIR of the brain.Neurotic segments were demonstrated more clearly in all 10 symptomatic nerves with fat and water suppressed techniques. The contrast ratio between neurotic optic nerve and orbital fat, normal nerve, and cerebrospinal fluid was greater with SPIR T2 SPIR-FLAIR than T1 and T2 conventional sequences.The T2-SPIR and SPIR-FLAIR MRI sequences offer important advantages over the T1 T2 conventional MRI methods in demonstration of optic neuritis.