Time-dependent diffusion MRI using multiple stimulated echoes

To develop a time-efficient pulse sequence that acquires multiple diffusion-weighted images with distinct diffusion times in a single shot by using multiple stimulated echoes (mSTE) with variable flip angles (VFA).

The proposed diffusion-weighted mSTE with VFA (DW-mSTE-VFA) sequence begins with two 90° RF pulses that straddle a diffusion gradient lobe (G_D ) to excite and restore one half of the magnetization into the longitudinal axis. The restored longitudinal magnetization was successively re-excited by a series of RF pulses with VFA, each followed by another G_D , to generate a set of stimulated echoes. Each of the multiple stimulated echoes was acquired with an EPI echo train. As such, the train of multiple stimulated echoes produced a set of diffusion-weighted images with varying diffusion times in a single shot. This technique was experimentally demonstrated on a diffusion phantom, a fruit, and healthy human brain and prostate at 3 T.

In the phantom experiment, the mean ADC measured at different diffusion times using DW-mSTE-VFA were highly consistent (r = 0.999) with those from a commercial spin-echo diffusion-weighted EPI sequence. In the fruit and brain experiments, DW-mSTE-VFA exhibited similar diffusion-time dependence to a standard diffusion-weighted stimulated echo sequence. The ADC showed significant time dependence in the human brain (p = 0.003 in both white matter and gray matter) and prostate tissues (p = 0.003 in both peripheral zone and central gland).

DW-mSTE-VFA offers a time-efficient tool for investigating the diffusion-time dependency in diffusion MRI studies.