Clinical evaluation of motion-corrected 2D axial T2-weighted turbo spin echo 3T brain MRI in the neurological intensive care unit

Motivation: Patient motion often reduces the diagnostic quality of axial T2-weighted TSE brain MRI, a clinical workhorse sequence, especially in acute care settings. Goal(s): To evaluate the SAMER motion correction method for axial T2-weighted TSE brain MRI, specifically in patients hospitalized from emergency and inpatient settings. Approach: This prospective study evaluated SAMER-corrected and uncorrected images in 100 patients scanned at 3T in the neurological ICU using radiologist review for motion grading and image quality ratings. Results: SAMER significantly improved image quality, reducing motion artifact in 21% of cases for one radiologist and 14% for another, with statistically significant improvement in all motion-degraded cases (p=0.0002). Impact: SAMER effectively corrects for motion and enhances the diagnostic quality of axial T2 TSE brain MRI in motion-prone, critically ill patients, supporting its utility for more accurate, timely assessments in neurologically compromised individuals.