A comparison of readout segmented EPI and interleaved EPI in high-resolution diffusion weighted imaging.

PURPOSE To provide a comprehensive understanding of multi-shot EPI diffusion imaging methods by comparing Readout segmented EPI (RS-EPI) and interleaved EPI (iEPI). MATERIALS AND METHODS RS-EPI and iEPI were compared on the same 3T scanner. A 2D navigator was used for both RS-EPI and iEPI for phase correction. Signal to noise ratio (SNR), fractional anisotropy (FA) and distortion level were compared using phantom data. Distortion reduction capability and scan efficiency were compared with different protocols with simulations. In addition, distortion reduction capability and diffusion tensor imaging performance were compared using in vivo data. RESULTS Our phantom data showed that the mean SNRs were 50.5, 86.6 and 45.4 for RS-EPI using GRAPPA=3, fully sampled iEPI and iEPI using GRAPPA=2 respectively. The mean FA values were 0.08, 0.05 and 0.09 for RS-EPI using GRAPPA=3, fully sampled iEPI and iEPI using GRAPPA=2 respectively. The distortion levels were 1.34mm, 1.29mm and 0.61mm for RS-EPI using GRAPPA=3, fully sampled iEPI and iEPI using GRAPPA=2 respectively. The effective echo spacing could be reduced by increasing the number of shots for both methods but more prominent for iEPI. The scan time was approximately proportional to the number of shots for both methods and RS-EPI showed a shorter scan time. Our in vivo data for distortion comparison showed consistent results with the effective echo spacing study. The mean difference of the FA and MD values between the high resolution sequences and SS-EPI was all within 7%. CONCLUSION For high resolution diffusion imaging, iEPI has more potential in distortion reduction than RS-EPI when increasing the number of shots. RS-EPI can achieve a reasonable SNR with a shorter scan time than iEPI. RS-EPI and iEPI have similar performance in FA and MD quantifications as well as showing structure details when using eleven shots for in vivo diffusion tensor imaging.

[1]  Trong-Kha Truong,et al.  High‐resolution multishot spiral diffusion tensor imaging with inherent correction of motion‐induced phase errors , 2014, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[2]  S. Skare,et al.  On the effects of gating in diffusion imaging of the brain using single shot EPI. , 2001, Magnetic resonance imaging.

[3]  Thorsten Feiweier,et al.  Reducing sensitivity losses due to respiration and motion in accelerated echo planar imaging by reordering the autocalibration data acquisition , 2016, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[4]  John C Gore,et al.  High‐resolution human diffusion tensor imaging using 2‐D navigated multishot SENSE EPI at 7 T , 2013, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[5]  Robert Turner,et al.  Diffusion imaging in humans at 7T using readout‐segmented EPI and GRAPPA , 2010, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[6]  Nicole Seiberlich,et al.  Parallel MR imaging , 2012, Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI.

[7]  Myung-Ho In,et al.  High-resolution diffusion MRI at 7T using a three-dimensional multi-slab acquisition , 2016, NeuroImage.

[8]  Youngseob Seo,et al.  A quality assurance protocol for diffusion tensor imaging using the head phantom from American College of Radiology. , 2011, Medical physics.

[9]  S. Skare,et al.  Readout-segmented EPI for rapid high resolution diffusion imaging at 3 T. , 2008, European journal of radiology.

[10]  Zhe Zhang,et al.  Improved multi-shot diffusion imaging using GRAPPA with a compact kernel , 2016, NeuroImage.

[11]  Feng Huang,et al.  POCS‐enhanced inherent correction of motion‐induced phase errors (POCS‐ICE) for high‐resolution multishot diffusion MRI , 2016, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[12]  M. Moseley,et al.  Self‐navigated interleaved spiral (SNAILS): Application to high‐resolution diffusion tensor imaging , 2004, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[13]  Jia-Hong Gao,et al.  DWI using navigated interleaved multishot EPI with realigned GRAPPA reconstruction , 2016, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[14]  S. Skare,et al.  Robust GRAPPA‐accelerated diffusion‐weighted readout‐segmented (RS)‐EPI , 2009, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[15]  J. Pauly,et al.  Diffusion‐weighted interleaved echo‐planar imaging with a pair of orthogonal navigator echoes , 1996, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[16]  Ninon Burgos,et al.  New advances in the Clinica software platform for clinical neuroimaging studies , 2019 .

[17]  Robin M Heidemann,et al.  High resolution diffusion‐weighted imaging using readout‐segmented echo‐planar imaging, parallel imaging and a two‐dimensional navigator‐based reacquisition , 2009, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[18]  Roland Bammer,et al.  Simultaneous phase correction and SENSE reconstruction for navigated multi‐shot DWI with non‐cartesian k‐space sampling , 2005, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[19]  S. Skare,et al.  Propeller EPI in the other direction , 2006, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[20]  James G Pipe,et al.  Multishot diffusion‐weighted FSE using PROPELLER MRI , 2002, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[21]  Allen W. Song,et al.  A robust multi-shot scan strategy for high-resolution diffusion weighted MRI enabled by multiplexed sensitivity-encoding (MUSE) , 2013, NeuroImage.

[22]  R. Stollberger,et al.  Improved diffusion‐weighted single‐shot echo‐planar imaging (EPI) in stroke using sensitivity encoding (SENSE) , 2001, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[23]  David A Porter,et al.  Implementation and assessment of diffusion‐weighted partial Fourier readout‐segmented echo‐planar imaging , 2012, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[24]  Robin M Heidemann,et al.  Generalized autocalibrating partially parallel acquisitions (GRAPPA) , 2002, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[25]  Karla L Miller,et al.  Nonlinear phase correction for navigated diffusion imaging , 2003, Magnetic resonance in medicine.