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Technical Feasibility of IVIM for Prostate Cancer Imaging Using High-Amplitude Whole-Body Gradient System With Spiral Readout and Velocity-Compensated Diffusion Encoding

Molendowska, Malwina LU ; Rashid, Ivan A LU orcid ; Foley, Kieran ; Mueller, Lars ; Olsson, Lars E LU orcid ; Brynolfsson, Patrik LU orcid and Szczepankiewicz, Filip LU orcid (2026) In NMR in Biomedicine 39(10). p.1-13
Abstract
Intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) is sensitive to tissue diffusion and perfusion and has spurred great interest in various pathologies such as prostate cancer. However, poor repeatability and reproducibility of IVIM parameters hamper its wide-scale adoption in the clinics. To address this, improvements to the IVIM data acquisition and analysis are necessary. The purpose of this study was to develop a framework for high-quality IVIM imaging of the prostate. To boost signal precision and quality of IVIM parameter maps, we used a custom pulse sequence to combine velocity-compensated diffusion encoding with spiral readout at a high-performance 3 T MRI system with 300 mT/m gradients. IVIM parameters were evaluated in a cohort of five men with... (More)
Intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) is sensitive to tissue diffusion and perfusion and has spurred great interest in various pathologies such as prostate cancer. However, poor repeatability and reproducibility of IVIM parameters hamper its wide-scale adoption in the clinics. To address this, improvements to the IVIM data acquisition and analysis are necessary. The purpose of this study was to develop a framework for high-quality IVIM imaging of the prostate. To boost signal precision and quality of IVIM parameter maps, we used a custom pulse sequence to combine velocity-compensated diffusion encoding with spiral readout at a high-performance 3 T MRI system with 300 mT/m gradients. IVIM parameters were evaluated in a cohort of five men with and without prostate cancer. Technical performance was assessed in terms of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), visual quality of IVIM parameter maps and parameter repeatability. High in-plane resolution images of the prostate were obtained with SNR > 3 (i.e., noise floor level) in 91% of voxels at the highest b-value of 500 s/mm2. The parameter maps exhibited high quality with fine features recovered in tissue diffusivity and perfusion fraction maps. Voxel-wise and ROI-based analysis revealed high repeatability of the parameters at single subject and group level across main prostatic tissue classes (peripheral and transitional zones) and prostate cancer. A combination of velocity-compensated diffusion encoding, spiral readout and strong gradients enables high-quality IVIM imaging in the prostate. Our framework may advance IVIM as a reliable imaging biomarker in prostate. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
NMR in Biomedicine
volume
39
issue
10
article number
e70384
pages
1 - 13
publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
external identifiers
  • pmid:42717576
ISSN
0952-3480
DOI
10.1002/nbm.70384
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
19b5615d-9dd7-4081-aaea-8905bcd6b7bf
date added to LUP
2026-09-10 10:02:25
date last changed
2026-09-11 03:34:17
@article{19b5615d-9dd7-4081-aaea-8905bcd6b7bf,
  abstract     = {{Intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) is sensitive to tissue diffusion and perfusion and has spurred great interest in various pathologies such as prostate cancer. However, poor repeatability and reproducibility of IVIM parameters hamper its wide-scale adoption in the clinics. To address this, improvements to the IVIM data acquisition and analysis are necessary. The purpose of this study was to develop a framework for high-quality IVIM imaging of the prostate. To boost signal precision and quality of IVIM parameter maps, we used a custom pulse sequence to combine velocity-compensated diffusion encoding with spiral readout at a high-performance 3 T MRI system with 300 mT/m gradients. IVIM parameters were evaluated in a cohort of five men with and without prostate cancer. Technical performance was assessed in terms of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), visual quality of IVIM parameter maps and parameter repeatability. High in-plane resolution images of the prostate were obtained with SNR > 3 (i.e., noise floor level) in 91% of voxels at the highest b-value of 500 s/mm2. The parameter maps exhibited high quality with fine features recovered in tissue diffusivity and perfusion fraction maps. Voxel-wise and ROI-based analysis revealed high repeatability of the parameters at single subject and group level across main prostatic tissue classes (peripheral and transitional zones) and prostate cancer. A combination of velocity-compensated diffusion encoding, spiral readout and strong gradients enables high-quality IVIM imaging in the prostate. Our framework may advance IVIM as a reliable imaging biomarker in prostate.}},
  author       = {{Molendowska, Malwina and Rashid, Ivan A and Foley, Kieran and Mueller, Lars and Olsson, Lars E and Brynolfsson, Patrik and Szczepankiewicz, Filip}},
  issn         = {{0952-3480}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{09}},
  number       = {{10}},
  pages        = {{1--13}},
  publisher    = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
  series       = {{NMR in Biomedicine}},
  title        = {{Technical Feasibility of IVIM for Prostate Cancer Imaging Using High-Amplitude Whole-Body Gradient System With Spiral Readout and Velocity-Compensated Diffusion Encoding}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/nbm.70384}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/nbm.70384}},
  volume       = {{39}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}