title: Diffusion-weighted radial fast spin-echo for high-resolution diffusion tensor imaging at 3T.
abstract: There is a need for an imaging sequence that can provide high-resolution diffusion tensor images at 3T near air-tissue interfaces. By employing a radial fast spin-echo (FSE) collection in conjunction with magnitude filtered back-projection reconstruction, high-resolution diffusion-weighted images can be produced without susceptibility artifacts. However, violation of the Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG) condition of diffusion prepared magnetization is a prominent problem for FSE trains that is magnified at higher fields. The unique aspect of violating the CPMG condition in trajectories that oversample the center of k-space and the implications for choosing the solution are examined. For collecting diffusion-weighted radial-FSE data at 3T we propose mixed-CPMG phase cycling of RF refocusing pulses combined with a 300% wider refocusing than excitation slice. It is shown that this approach produces accurate diffusion values in a phantom, and can be used to collect undistorted, high-resolution diffusion tensor images of the human brain.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA. sarllsjo@mail.nih.gov
authors.forename: Joelle E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Sarlls
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pierpaoli
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D017352:Echo-Planar Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male