Beyond FLAIR: PRISM (polarity-preserving real inversion solute mapping)—a new Frontier in real inversion recovery MRI for intracranial and sensory organ fluid assessment
摘要
Assessing subtle compositional changes in cranial and sensory organ fluids—including cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), ocular humors, and inner ear lymph fluid—is vital for neuroimaging. Heavily T2-weighted Fluid-attenuated Inversion Recovery (FLAIR) is sensitive to T1 changes induced by solutes, but conventional magnitude reconstruction (e.g., HYDROPS subtraction) suffers from artifacts like signal cancellation, paradoxical gadolinium-based contrast agent (GBCA) effects, and motion misregistration. This review summarizes the technical characteristics and diverse applications of PRISM (Polarity-preserving Real Inversion Solute Mapping), a robust 3D-real Inversion Recovery (IR) sequence developed to overcome these limitations. PRISM achieves high T1-sensitivity using phase-sensitive (real) reconstruction with an ultra-long repetition time (TR), allowing whole-brain coverage and simultaneous assessment of CSF, the eyeball, and the inner ear within a clinically feasible time. Critically, its polarity-preserving display depicts fluids lacking T1-shortening solutes with a negative signal (black), clearly differentiating them from bone and air. Clinically, PRISM’s utility spans both non-contrast and contrast-enhanced applications. Non-contrast PRISM is useful for assessing CSF protein concentration variations, meningeal lymphatic stasis, or compositional changes indicating inner ear pathologies. When combined with GBCA, time-course PRISM (pre-contrast up to 24 h delayed) uniquely visualizes solute dynamics, providing profound insights into blood-barrier integrity (e.g., blood-labyrinth barrier) and glymphatic waste clearance (e.g., CSF washout, perivascular space enhancement). Moreover, PRISM is a reliable, single-acquisition method for visualizing delayed contrast-enhanced endolymphatic hydrops, bypassing prior subtraction pitfalls. PRISM’s ability to detect subtle compositional markers with high resolution positions it as a highly promising MRI advancement. However, to facilitate its routine widespread clinical adoption, further standardization, broader validation, and multi-platform reproducibility are essential. Continued efforts to establish robust protocols will be necessary to realize its potential as a non-invasive tool for screening and monitoring glymphatic function.