Near-silent distortionless DWI using magnetization-prepared RUFIS.

Area of Science:

• Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• Medical Physics
• Radiology

Background:

• Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is crucial for detecting tissue microstructural changes.
• Conventional DWI sequences often suffer from acoustic noise and image distortions.
• Developing advanced DWI techniques is essential for improving diagnostic accuracy and patient comfort.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a near-silent and distortionless DWI (sd-DWI) sequence.
• To optimize the sd-DWI sequence using magnetization-prepared rotating ultrafast imaging.
• To evaluate the performance of the novel sd-DWI sequence compared to conventional methods.

Main Methods:

• Modified a rotating ultrafast imaging sequence with driven-equilibrium diffusion preparation.
• Implemented eddy-current and T1 recovery compensation methods (phase cycling).
• Validated the sequence in phantoms and evaluated in vivo brain, prostate, and pediatric joint scans.

Main Results:

• Eddy-current compensation effectively reduced artifacts; phase cycling minimized T1 recovery contamination.
• sd-DWI demonstrated significantly lower acoustic noise (P < .05) compared to EPI diffusion.
• In vivo scans showed reduced distortion in sd-DWI, comparable ADC values, and clear depiction of joint lesions.

Conclusions:

• The developed sd-DWI sequence provides similar diffusion contrast and accurate ADC measurements.
• sd-DWI offers improved image quality with minimal scanning noise.
• The sequence is effective for in vivo diffusion imaging in relatively motion-free regions like the prostate and joints.