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Purpose: To demonstrate the technical feasibility and the value of ultrahigh-performance gradient in imaging the prostate in a 3T MRI system., Methods: In this local institutional review board-approved study, prostate MRI was performed on 4 healthy men. Each subject was scanned in a prototype 3T MRI system with a 42-cm inner-diameter gradient coil that achieves a maximum gradient amplitude of 200 mT/m and slew rate of 500 T/m/s. PI-RADS V2.1-compliant axial T 2 -weighted anatomical imaging and single-shot echo planar DWI at standard gradient of 70 mT/m and 150 T/m/s were obtained, followed by DWI at maximum performance (i.e., 200 mT/m and 500 T/m/s). In comparison to state-of-the-art clinical whole-body MRI systems, the high slew rate improved echo spacing from 1020 to 596 μs and, together with a high gradient amplitude for diffusion encoding, TE was reduced from 55 to 36 ms., Results: In all 4 subjects (waist circumference = 81-91 cm, age = 45-65 years), no peripheral nerve stimulation sensation was reported during DWI. Reduced image distortion in the posterior peripheral zone prostate gland and higher signal intensity, such as in the surrounding muscle of high-gradient DWI, were noted., Conclusion: Human prostate MRI at simultaneously high gradient amplitude of 200 mT/m and slew rate of 500 T/m/s is feasible, demonstrating that improved gradient performance can address image distortion and T 2 decay-induced SNR issues for in vivo prostate imaging., (© 2023 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.)

Purpose: The ADC is a well-established parameter for clinical diagnostic applications, but lacks reproducibility because it is also influenced by the choice diffusion weighting level. A framework is evaluated that is based on multi-b measurement over a wider range of diffusion-weighting levels and higher order tissue diffusion modeling with retrospective, fully reproducible ADC calculation., Methods: Averaging effect from curve fitting for various model functions at 20 linearly spaced b-values was determined by means of simulations and theoretical calculations. Simulation and patient multi-b image data were used to compare the new approach for diffusion-weighted image and ADC map reconstruction with and without Rician bias correction to an active clinical trial protocol probing three non-zero b-values., Results: Averaging effect at a certain b-value varies for model function and maximum b-value used. Images and ADC maps from the novel procedure are on-par with the clinical protocol. Higher order modeling and Rician bias correction is feasible, but comes at the cost of longer computation times., Conclusions: Application of the new framework makes higher order modeling more feasible in a clinical setting while still providing patient images and reproducible ADC maps of adequate quality., (© 2022 The Authors. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.)

Purpose: The goal of this study was to measure diffusion signals within the cerebral cortex using the line-scan technique to achieve extremely high resolution in the radial direction (ie, perpendicular to the cortical surface) and to demonstrate the utility of these measurements for investigating laminar architecture in the living human brain., Methods: Line-scan diffusion data with 250-500 micron radial resolution were acquired at 7 T on 8 healthy volunteers, with each line prescribed perpendicularly to primary somatosensory cortex (S1) and primary motor cortex (M1). Apparent diffusion coefficients, fractional anisotropy values, and radiality indices were measured as a function of cortical depth., Results: In the deep layers of S1, we found evidence for high anisotropy and predominantly tangential diffusion, with low anisotropy observed in superficial S1. In M1, moderate anisotropy and predominantly radial diffusion was seen at almost all cortical depths. These patterns were consistent across subjects and were conspicuous without averaging data across different locations on the cortical sheet., Conclusion: Our results are in accord with the myeloarchitecture of S1 and M1, known from prior histology studies: in S1, dense bands of tangential myelinated fibers run through the deep layers but not the superficial ones, and in M1, radial myelinated fibers are prominent at most cortical depths. This work therefore provides support for the idea that high-resolution diffusion signals, measured with the line-scan technique and receiving a boost in SNR at 7 T, may serve as a sensitive probe of in vivo laminar architecture., (© 2020 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.)

Purpose: To compare the fitting and tissue discrimination performance of biexponential, kurtosis, stretched exponential, and gamma distribution models for high b-factor diffusion-weighted images in prostate cancer., Methods: Diffusion-weighted images with 15 b-factors ranging from b = 0 to 3500 s/mm 2 were obtained in 62 prostate cancer patients. Pixel-wise signal decay fits for each model were evaluated with the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC). Parameter values for each model were determined within normal prostate and the index lesion. Their potential to differentiate normal from cancerous tissue was investigated through receiver operating characteristic analysis and comparison with Gleason score., Results: The biexponential slow diffusion fraction f slow , the apparent kurtosis diffusion coefficient ADC K , and the excess kurtosis factor K differ significantly among normal peripheral zone (PZ), normal transition zone (TZ), tumor PZ, and tumor TZ. Biexponential and gamma distribution models result in the lowest AIC, indicating a superior fit. Maximum areas under the curve (AUCs) of all models ranged from 0.93 to 0.96 for the PZ and from 0.95 to 0.97 for the TZ. Similar AUCs also result from the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of a monoexponential fit to a b-factor sub-range up to 1250 s/mm 2 . For kurtosis and stretched exponential models, single parameters yield the highest AUCs, whereas for the biexponential and gamma distribution models, linear combinations of parameters produce the highest AUCs. Parameters with high AUC show a trend in differentiating low from high Gleason score, whereas parameters with low AUC show no such ability., Conclusion: All models, including a monoexponential fit to a lower-b sub-range, achieve similar AUCs for discrimination of normal and cancer tissue. The biexponential model, which is favored statistically, also appears to provide insight into disease-related microstructural changes. Magn Reson Med 79:2346-2358, 2018. © 2017 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine., (© 2017 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.)

Purpose: High angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) is a well-established method to help reveal the architecture of nerve bundles, but long scan times and geometric distortions inherent to echo planar imaging (EPI) have limited its integration into clinical protocols., Methods: A fast imaging method is proposed here that combines accelerated multishot diffusion imaging (AMDI), multiplexed sensitivity encoding (MUSE), and crossing fiber angular resolution of intravoxel structure (CFARI) to reduce spatial distortions and reduce total scan time. A multishot EPI sequence was used to improve geometrical fidelity as compared to a single-shot EPI acquisition, and acceleration in both k-space and diffusion sampling enabled reductions in scan time. The method is regularized and self-navigated for motion correction. Seven volunteers were scanned in this study, including four with volumetric whole brain acquisitions., Results: The average similarity of microstructural orientations between undersampled datasets and their fully sampled counterparts was above 85%, with scan times below 5 min for whole-brain acquisitions. Up to 2.7-fold scan time acceleration along with four-fold distortion reduction was achieved., Conclusion: The proposed imaging strategy can generate HARDI results with relatively good geometrical fidelity and low scan duration, which may help facilitate the transition of HARDI from a successful research tool to a practical clinical one. Magn Reson Med 77:696-706, 2017. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine., (© 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.)

Purpose: To investigate the tissue-like multiexponential T2 signal decays in avian eggs., Methods: Transverse relaxation studies of raw, soft-boiled and hard-boiled eggs were performed at 3 Tesla using a three-dimensional Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill imaging sequence. Signal decays over a TE range of 11 to 354 ms were fitted assuming single- and multicomponent signal decays with up to three separately decaying components. Fat saturation was used to facilitate spectral assignment of observed decay components., Results: Egg white, yolk and the centrally located latebra all demonstrate nonmonoexponential T2 decays. Specifically, egg white exhibits two-component decays with intermediate and long T2 times. Meanwhile, yolk and latebra are generally best characterized with triexponential decays, with short, intermediate and very long T2 decay times. Fat saturation revealed that the intermediate component of yolk could be attributed to lipids. Cooking of the egg profoundly altered the decay curves., Conclusion: Avian egg T2 decay curves cover a wide range of decay times. Observed T2 components in yolk and latebra as short as 10 ms, may prove valuable for testing clinical sequences designed to measure short T2 components, such as myelin-associated water in the brain. Thus we propose that the egg can be a versatile and widely available MR transverse relaxation phantom., (© 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Purpose: Simplified models of non-monoexponential diffusion signal decay are of great interest to study the basic constituents of complex diffusion behavior in tissues. The latebra, a unique structure uniformly present in the yolk of avian eggs, exhibits a non-monoexponential diffusion signal decay. This model is more complex than simple phantoms based on differences between water and lipid diffusion, but is also devoid of microscopic structures with preferential orientation or perfusion effects., Methods: Diffusion scans with multiple b-values were performed on a clinical 3 Tesla system in raw and boiled chicken eggs equilibrated to room temperature. Diffusion encoding was applied over the ranges 5-5,000 and 5-50,000 s/mm(2). A low read-out bandwidth and chemical shift was used for reliable lipid/water separation. Signal decays were fitted with exponential functions., Results: The latebra, when measured over the 5-5,000 s/mm(2) range, exhibited independent of preparation clearly biexponential diffusion, with diffusion parameters similar to those typically observed in in vivo human brain. For the range 5-50,000 s/mm(2), there was evidence of a small third, very slow diffusing water component., Conclusion: The latebra of the avian egg contains membrane structures, which may explain a deviation from a simple monoexponential diffusion signal decay, which is remarkably similar to the deviation observed in brain tissue., (Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Purpose: To reduce image distortion in MR diffusion imaging using an accelerated multi-shot method., Methods: The proposed method exploits the fact that diffusion-encoded data tend to be sparse when represented in the kb-kd space, where kb and kd are the Fourier transform duals of b and d, the b-factor and the diffusion direction, respectively. Aliasing artifacts are displaced toward under-used regions of the kb-kd plane, allowing nonaliased signals to be recovered. A main characteristic of the proposed approach is how thoroughly the navigator information gets used during reconstruction: The phase of navigator images is used for motion correction, while the magnitude of the navigator signal in kb-kd space is used for regularization purposes. As opposed to most acceleration methods based on compressed sensing, the proposed method reduces the number of ky lines needed for each diffusion-encoded image, but not the total number of images required. Consequently, it tends to be most effective at reducing image distortion rather than reducing total scan time., Results: Results are presented for three volunteers with acceleration factors ranging from 4 to 8, with and without the inclusion of parallel imaging., Conclusion: An accelerated motion-corrected diffusion imaging method was introduced that achieves good image quality at relatively high acceleration factors., (Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)