Differentiation of calcification from chronic hemorrhage with corrected gradient echo phase imaging

The purpose of the current study was to prospectively evaluate the role of corrected gradient echo phase imaging in differentiation of calcified granuloma from chronic hemorrhage. Eighty-five patients with single/multiple calcifications and hemorrhages irrespective of their location were studied with corrected gradient echo phase imaging. In all the cases, CT was used as the gold standard for the presence/absence of calcification. All calcified lesions showed positive phase, whereas chronic hemorrhages showed negative phase in all cases. Five calcified lesions showed no phase shift at TE =15 ms and positive shift at TE = 35 ms. Heterogeneous phase shift was observed in three calcified lesions at TE = 35 ms; all three lesions showed positive phase shift at TE = 15 ms. There was no site-specific problem in differentiation of calcification from chronic hemorrhage including in the basal ganglia. We conclude that calcified granuloma can be easily differentiated from chronic hemorrhage with corrected gradient echo phase imaging, which may obviate the need for CT for its confirmation.