4.7 Article

Increased sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio in diffusion-weighted MRI using multi-echo acquisitions

Journal

NEUROIMAGE
Volume 221, Issue -, Pages -

Publisher

ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117172

Keywords

MRI; Diffusion; dMRI; Multi-echo; Segmented EPI; Post-mortem; Relaxometry; Noise; SNR; Chimpanzee

Funding

  1. Max Planck Society
  2. German Research Foundation, DFG [SPP 2041]

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Post-mortem diffusion MRI (dMRI) enables acquisitions of structural imaging data with otherwise unreachable resolutions - at the expense of longer scanning times. These data are typically acquired using highly segmented image acquisition strategies, thereby resulting in an incomplete signal decay before the MRI encoding continues. Especially in dMRI, with low signal intensities and lengthy contrast encoding, such temporal inefficiency translates into reduced image quality and longer scanning times. This study introduces Multi Echo (ME) acquisitions to dMRI on a human MRI system - a time-efficient approach, which increases SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio) and reduces noise bias for dMRI images. The benefit of the introduced ME-dMRI method was validated using numerical Monte Carlo simulations and showcased on a post-mortem brain of a wild chimpanzee. The proposed Maximum Likelihood Estimation echo combination results in an optimal SNR without detectable signal bias. The combined strategy comes at a small price in scanning time (here 30% additional) and leads to a substantial SNR increase (here white matter: similar to 1.6x, equivalent to 2.6 averages, grey matter: similar to 1.9x, equivalent to 3.6 averages) and a general reduction of the noise bias.

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