Yiming Dong1, Kirsten Koolstra2, Malte Riedel3, Matthias J.P. van Osch1, and Peter Börnert1,4
1C.J. Gorter Center for High Field MRI, Department of Radiology, LUMC, Leiden, Netherlands, 2Division of Image Processing, Department of Radiology, LUMC, Leiden, Netherlands, 3University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany, 4Philips Research Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
1C.J. Gorter Center for High Field MRI, Department of Radiology, LUMC, Leiden, Netherlands, 2Division of Image Processing, Department of Radiology, LUMC, Leiden, Netherlands, 3University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany, 4Philips Research Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Applying chemical-shift encoding to msh-EPI can significantly improve fat-suppression
and image quality of Diffusion-weighted imaging. The proposed algorithm is able to effectively separate
water/fat contents and has been validated using data acquired from healthy volunteers.
Results of one subject’s lower neck DW msh-EPI at
different b-values and the corresponding ADC maps, comparing SPIR,
IDEAL, and the proposed method. B0 maps are estimated through b = 0
s/mm2 source images. Both SPIR and IDEAL suffered from severe B0
inhomogeneities in certain regions (marked by red arrows), leaving behind
artifacts in both supposed water-only and associated ADC maps. The proposed
algorithm mitigates the artifacts and produced more reliable results.
Comparison between IDEAL and the proposed
algorithm of one subject’s leg at different b-values. The two B0 maps
are estimated from non-diffusion measurements. In the water/fat overlapping regions,
IDEAL left rim-like artifacts (marked by red arrows and emphasized in
sub-figures at lower level/window) in both water and B0 maps. The
proposed eliminates this artifact and produces a better water/fat separation
with corrected fat maps locations.