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Reducing motion artefacts in diffusion-weighted MRI of the brain: efficacy of navigator echo correction and pulse
O Dietrich1, S Heiland, T Benner
1Department of Neuroradiology, University of Heidelberg Medical School, Im Neuenheimer Feld 400, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. olaf.dietrich@urz.uni-heidelberg.de
Abstract:
Diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) is extremely sensitive to motion of the object being examined. Pulse triggering and navigator echo correction are methods for reducing motion artefacts which can be combined with conventional DWI sequences. Implementation of these methods in imaging sequences with a readout of one, three, or five echoes is presented and imaging results compared in a study of five healthy volunteers. As an objective measure for motion-induced image artefacts, the "artefacticity" of an image is defined. Pulse triggering and navigator echo correction significantly improve image quality and provide a technique for high-quality DWI on standard imagers without improved gradient hardware.
Insights
Pulse triggering and navigator echo correction reduce motion artifacts in diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI). These techniques significantly improve image quality on standard MRI scanners, enabling high-quality DWI without specialized hardware.
Area of Science:
- Medical Imaging
- Radiology
- Biophysics
Background:
- Diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) is highly susceptible to motion artifacts.
- Motion during DWI acquisition can significantly degrade image quality and diagnostic accuracy.
- Existing methods for motion artifact reduction have limitations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effectiveness of pulse triggering and navigator echo correction in reducing motion artifacts in DWI.
- To compare the performance of these techniques across DWI sequences with varying echo readouts (one, three, and five echoes).
- To introduce an objective measure, "artefacticity," for quantifying motion-induced image artifacts.
Main Methods:
- Implementation of pulse triggering and navigator echo correction in conventional DWI sequences.
- Acquisition of DWI data with one, three, and five echoes in five healthy volunteers.
- Objective assessment of image quality using the defined "artefacticity" metric.
Main Results:
- Pulse triggering and navigator echo correction significantly reduced motion artifacts in DWI.
- Both techniques demonstrably improved overall image quality.
- The benefits were observed across DWI sequences with different echo numbers.
Conclusions:
- Pulse triggering and navigator echo correction are effective methods for enhancing DWI quality.
- These techniques enable high-quality DWI acquisition on standard MRI scanners.
- No specialized gradient hardware is required for implementing these motion correction strategies.