Effects of echo time on diffusion quantification of brain white matter at 1.5 T and 3.0 T

The aim was to investigate the effects of echo time (TE) on diffusion quantification of brain white matter. Seven rhesus monkeys (all males; age, 4-6 years; weight, 5-7 kg) underwent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) with a series of TEs in 1.5 T and 3.0 T MR scanners. The mean diffusivity (MD), fractional anisotropy (FA), primary (lambda(1)), and transverse eigenvalues (lambda(23)) were measured in a region of interest at the bilateral internal capsule. Pearson correlation showed that the FA and lambda(1) increased and lambda(23) decreased with TE both at 1.5 T and 3.0 T except for the MD. Repeated measurement analysis of variance (ANOVA) also showed significantly higher FA and lower MD and lambda(23) at 3.0 T than those at 1.5 T (P<0.01), but no statistical differences were found in lambda(1) between these two field strengths (P=0.709). These findings implied that TE and field strength might influence diffusion quantification in brain white matter.