[Examination of Reacquisition Mode in Readout-segmented EPI during the Body Motion]

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Physics

Context:

• Readout-segmented echo planar imaging (rs-EPI) is susceptible to image artifacts caused by patient motion.
• A reacquisition mode has been developed to mitigate these motion-related artifacts.

Purpose:

• To characterize the effectiveness of the rs-EPI reacquisition mode in improving image quality under various body motion conditions.
• To quantify the impact of continuous and intermittent body motion on image quality and assess the reacquisition mode's performance.

Summary:

• The study evaluated the reacquisition mode of rs-EPI using phantom motion experiments, varying motion counts, angles, and durations (continuous/intermittent).
• Image quality was assessed by comparing pixel signal intensity using Spearman's correlation coefficient against non-motion images.
• Results indicated that image quality, measured by correlation coefficient, degraded with increased motion counts but was unaffected by motion angle.

Impact:

• The reacquisition mode significantly improved image quality across all tested body motion scenarios, demonstrating its utility in clinical rs-EPI applications.
• This finding suggests that the reacquisition mode can enhance diagnostic confidence and reduce the need for repeat scans in the presence of patient motion.