Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 15, 2026
17:16
Registered Bioimaging of Nanomaterials for Diagnostic and Therapeutic Monitoring
Published on: December 9, 2010
Prospective and retrospective high order eddy current mitigation for diffusion weighted echo planar imaging
Dan Xu1, Joseph K Maier, Kevin F King
1Applied Science Laboratory, General Electric Healthcare, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.
Magnetic Resonance in Medicine
|January 18, 2013
Summary
This study introduces a new method to reduce eddy current (EC) distortion in diffusion weighted echo planar imaging. The technique effectively corrects image distortions without needing extra post-processing steps.
Area of Science:
- Medical Imaging
- Physics in Medicine
Background:
- Eddy currents (ECs) induce significant spatial distortions in diffusion weighted echo planar imaging (DW-EPI).
- High-order spatial components of ECs pose challenges for conventional preemphasis compensation techniques.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a method for reducing EC-induced distortion in DW-EPI.
- To eliminate the need for post-acquisition image coregistration between diffusion and T2-weighted images.
Main Methods:
- System-level calibration of high-order ECs in a protocol-independent manner.
- Calculation of imaging protocol-specific corrections using calibrated EC amplitudes and time constants.
- Combined prospective and retrospective correction during data acquisition and image reconstruction.
Main Results:
- Significantly reduced image distortion and misregistration observed in phantom, brain, body, and whole-body DW-EPI.
- Consistent improvements demonstrated with the proposed method compared to standard imaging.
Conclusions:
- The proposed method effectively corrects high-order EC-induced distortion and misregistration in various DW-EPI applications.
- The technique is powerful, flexible, and compatible with other image enhancements and scan planes.
- No additional post-processing, prescan, or signal-to-noise ratio sacrifice is required.
