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Tensor-valued diffusion encoding for diffusional variance decomposition (DIVIDE) : Technical feasibility in clinical MRI systems

Szczepankiewicz, Filip LU orcid ; Sjölund, Jens ; Ståhlberg, Freddy LU ; Lätt, Jimmy LU and Nilsson, Markus LU (2019) In PLoS ONE 14(3).
Abstract


Microstructure imaging techniques based on tensor-valued diffusion encoding have gained popularity within the MRI research community. Unlike conventional diffusion encoding—applied along a single direction in each shot—tensor-valued encoding employs diffusion encoding along multiple directions within a single preparation of the signal. The benefit is that such encoding may probe tissue features that are not accessible by conventional encoding. For example, diffusional variance decomposition (DIVIDE) takes advantage of tensor-valued encoding to probe microscopic diffusion anisotropy independent of orientation coherence. The drawback is that tensor-valued encoding generally... (More)


Microstructure imaging techniques based on tensor-valued diffusion encoding have gained popularity within the MRI research community. Unlike conventional diffusion encoding—applied along a single direction in each shot—tensor-valued encoding employs diffusion encoding along multiple directions within a single preparation of the signal. The benefit is that such encoding may probe tissue features that are not accessible by conventional encoding. For example, diffusional variance decomposition (DIVIDE) takes advantage of tensor-valued encoding to probe microscopic diffusion anisotropy independent of orientation coherence. The drawback is that tensor-valued encoding generally requires gradient waveforms that are more demanding on hardware; it has therefore been used primarily in MRI systems with relatively high performance. The purpose of this work was to explore tensor-valued diffusion encoding on clinical MRI systems with varying performance to test its technical feasibility within the context of DIVIDE. We performed whole-brain imaging with linear and spherical b-tensor encoding at field strengths between 1.5 and 7 T, and at maximal gradient amplitudes between 45 and 80 mT/m. Asymmetric gradient waveforms were optimized numerically to yield b-values up to 2 ms/μm
2
. Technical feasibility was assessed in terms of the repeatability, SNR, and quality of DIVIDE parameter maps. Variable system performance resulted in echo times between 83 to 115 ms and total acquisition times of 6 to 9 minutes when using 80 signal samples and resolution 2×2×4 mm
3
. As expected, the repeatability, signal-to-noise ratio and parameter map quality depended on hardware performance. We conclude that tensor-valued encoding is feasible for a wide range of MRI systems—even at 1.5 T with maximal gradient waveform amplitudes of 33 mT/m—and baseline experimental design and quality parameters for all included configurations. This demonstrates that tissue features, beyond those accessible by conventional diffusion encoding, can be explored on a wide range of MRI systems.

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Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
PLoS ONE
volume
14
issue
3
article number
e0214238
publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
external identifiers
  • pmid:30921381
  • scopus:85063605675
ISSN
1932-6203
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0214238
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
f453762c-4705-45c3-903c-a79abbdde9e3
date added to LUP
2019-04-10 11:02:28
date last changed
2024-04-16 02:38:26
@article{f453762c-4705-45c3-903c-a79abbdde9e3,
  abstract     = {{<p><br>
                                                         Microstructure imaging techniques based on tensor-valued diffusion encoding have gained popularity within the MRI research community. Unlike conventional diffusion encoding—applied along a single direction in each shot—tensor-valued encoding employs diffusion encoding along multiple directions within a single preparation of the signal. The benefit is that such encoding may probe tissue features that are not accessible by conventional encoding. For example, diffusional variance decomposition (DIVIDE) takes advantage of tensor-valued encoding to probe microscopic diffusion anisotropy independent of orientation coherence. The drawback is that tensor-valued encoding generally requires gradient waveforms that are more demanding on hardware; it has therefore been used primarily in MRI systems with relatively high performance. The purpose of this work was to explore tensor-valued diffusion encoding on clinical MRI systems with varying performance to test its technical feasibility within the context of DIVIDE. We performed whole-brain imaging with linear and spherical b-tensor encoding at field strengths between 1.5 and 7 T, and at maximal gradient amplitudes between 45 and 80 mT/m. Asymmetric gradient waveforms were optimized numerically to yield b-values up to 2 ms/μm                             <br>
                            <sup>2</sup><br>
                                                         . Technical feasibility was assessed in terms of the repeatability, SNR, and quality of DIVIDE parameter maps. Variable system performance resulted in echo times between 83 to 115 ms and total acquisition times of 6 to 9 minutes when using 80 signal samples and resolution 2×2×4 mm                             <br>
                            <sup>3</sup><br>
                                                         . As expected, the repeatability, signal-to-noise ratio and parameter map quality depended on hardware performance. We conclude that tensor-valued encoding is feasible for a wide range of MRI systems—even at 1.5 T with maximal gradient waveform amplitudes of 33 mT/m—and baseline experimental design and quality parameters for all included configurations. This demonstrates that tissue features, beyond those accessible by conventional diffusion encoding, can be explored on a wide range of MRI systems.                         <br>
                        </p>}},
  author       = {{Szczepankiewicz, Filip and Sjölund, Jens and Ståhlberg, Freddy and Lätt, Jimmy and Nilsson, Markus}},
  issn         = {{1932-6203}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  publisher    = {{Public Library of Science (PLoS)}},
  series       = {{PLoS ONE}},
  title        = {{Tensor-valued diffusion encoding for diffusional variance decomposition (DIVIDE) : Technical feasibility in clinical MRI systems}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214238}},
  doi          = {{10.1371/journal.pone.0214238}},
  volume       = {{14}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}