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Cardiac diffusion kurtosis imaging in the human heart in vivo using 300 mT/m gradients

Afzali, Maryam ; Coveney, Sam ; Mueller, Lars ; Jones, Sarah ; Fasano, Fabrizio ; Evans, C. John ; Teh, Irvin ; Dall'Armellina, Erica ; Szczepankiewicz, Filip LU orcid and Jones, Derek K. , et al. (2025) In Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 94(5). p.2100-2112
Abstract

Purpose: Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is commonly used in cardiac diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI). However, the tissue's microstructure (cells, membranes, etc.) restricts the movement of the water molecules, making the spin displacements deviate from Gaussian behavior. This effect may be observed with diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) using sufficiently high b-values ((Formula presented.)), which are presently outside the realm of routine cardiac dMRI due to the limited gradient strength of clinical scanners. The Connectom scanner with (Formula presented.) enables high b-values at echo times (TE) similar to DTI on standard clinical scanners, therefore facilitating cardiac DKI in humans. Methods: Cardiac-gated, second-order... (More)

Purpose: Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is commonly used in cardiac diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI). However, the tissue's microstructure (cells, membranes, etc.) restricts the movement of the water molecules, making the spin displacements deviate from Gaussian behavior. This effect may be observed with diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) using sufficiently high b-values ((Formula presented.)), which are presently outside the realm of routine cardiac dMRI due to the limited gradient strength of clinical scanners. The Connectom scanner with (Formula presented.) enables high b-values at echo times (TE) similar to DTI on standard clinical scanners, therefore facilitating cardiac DKI in humans. Methods: Cardiac-gated, second-order motion-compensated dMRI was performed with (Formula presented.) in 10 healthy volunteers on a 3T MRI scanner with (Formula presented.). The signal was fitted to a cumulant expansion up to and including the kurtosis term, and diffusion metrics such as fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), mean kurtosis (MK), axial kurtosis (AK), and radial kurtosis (RK) were calculated. Results: We demonstrate deviation of the signal from monoexponential decay for b-values (Formula presented.) ((Formula presented.)). Radial kurtosis ((Formula presented.)) was observed slightly larger than axial kurtosis ((Formula presented.)), and the difference is statistically significant ((Formula presented.), (Formula presented.)). Conclusion: This work demonstrates the feasibility of quantifying kurtosis effect in the human heart in vivo (at an echo time shorter than typical TEs reported for cardiac DTI), using high-performance gradient systems (which are 4–8 times stronger than on standard clinical scanners). Our work lays the foundation for exploring new biomarkers in cardiac dMRI beyond DTI.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
cardiac diffusion MRI, diffusion kurtosis imaging, strong gradients
in
Magnetic Resonance in Medicine
volume
94
issue
5
pages
13 pages
publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
external identifiers
  • pmid:40605816
  • scopus:105009837626
ISSN
0740-3194
DOI
10.1002/mrm.30626
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
8c0b74ca-ad04-4bee-b0e5-49f12100902d
date added to LUP
2026-01-14 14:53:31
date last changed
2026-01-15 03:00:01
@article{8c0b74ca-ad04-4bee-b0e5-49f12100902d,
  abstract     = {{<p>Purpose: Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is commonly used in cardiac diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI). However, the tissue's microstructure (cells, membranes, etc.) restricts the movement of the water molecules, making the spin displacements deviate from Gaussian behavior. This effect may be observed with diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) using sufficiently high b-values ((Formula presented.)), which are presently outside the realm of routine cardiac dMRI due to the limited gradient strength of clinical scanners. The Connectom scanner with (Formula presented.) enables high b-values at echo times (TE) similar to DTI on standard clinical scanners, therefore facilitating cardiac DKI in humans. Methods: Cardiac-gated, second-order motion-compensated dMRI was performed with (Formula presented.) in 10 healthy volunteers on a 3T MRI scanner with (Formula presented.). The signal was fitted to a cumulant expansion up to and including the kurtosis term, and diffusion metrics such as fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), mean kurtosis (MK), axial kurtosis (AK), and radial kurtosis (RK) were calculated. Results: We demonstrate deviation of the signal from monoexponential decay for b-values (Formula presented.) ((Formula presented.)). Radial kurtosis ((Formula presented.)) was observed slightly larger than axial kurtosis ((Formula presented.)), and the difference is statistically significant ((Formula presented.), (Formula presented.)). Conclusion: This work demonstrates the feasibility of quantifying kurtosis effect in the human heart in vivo (at an echo time shorter than typical TEs reported for cardiac DTI), using high-performance gradient systems (which are 4–8 times stronger than on standard clinical scanners). Our work lays the foundation for exploring new biomarkers in cardiac dMRI beyond DTI.</p>}},
  author       = {{Afzali, Maryam and Coveney, Sam and Mueller, Lars and Jones, Sarah and Fasano, Fabrizio and Evans, C. John and Teh, Irvin and Dall'Armellina, Erica and Szczepankiewicz, Filip and Jones, Derek K. and Schneider, Jürgen E.}},
  issn         = {{0740-3194}},
  keywords     = {{cardiac diffusion MRI; diffusion kurtosis imaging; strong gradients}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{5}},
  pages        = {{2100--2112}},
  publisher    = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
  series       = {{Magnetic Resonance in Medicine}},
  title        = {{Cardiac diffusion kurtosis imaging in the human heart in vivo using 300 mT/m gradients}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mrm.30626}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/mrm.30626}},
  volume       = {{94}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}