title: High-resolution in vivo diffusion imaging of the human brain with generalized slice dithered enhanced resolution: Simultaneous multislice (gSlider-SMS).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To develop an efficient acquisition for high-resolution diffusion imaging and allow in vivo whole-brain acquisitions at 600- to 700-μm isotropic resolution.
  
  
  METHODS
  We combine blipped-controlled aliasing in parallel imaging simultaneous multislice (SMS) with a novel slab radiofrequency (RF) encoding gSlider (generalized slice-dithered enhanced resolution) to form a signal-to-noise ratio-efficient volumetric simultaneous multislab acquisition. Here, multiple thin slabs are acquired simultaneously with controlled aliasing, and unaliased with parallel imaging. To achieve high resolution in the slice direction, the slab is volumetrically encoded using RF encoding with a scheme similar to Hadamard encoding. However, with gSlider, the RF-encoding bases are specifically designed to be highly independent and provide high image signal-to-noise ratio in each slab acquisition to enable self-navigation of the diffusion's phase corruption. Finally, the method is combined with zoomed imaging (while retaining whole-brain coverage) to facilitate low-distortion single-shot in-plane encoding with echo-planar imaging at high resolution.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A 10-slices-per-shot gSlider-SMS acquisition was used to acquire whole-brain data at 660 and 760 μm isotropic resolution with b-values of 1500 and 1800 s/mm2, respectively. Data were acquired on the Connectome 3 Tesla scanner with 64-channel head coil. High-quality data with excellent contrast were achieved at these resolutions, which enable the visualization of fine-scale structures.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The gSlider-SMS approach provides a new, efficient way to acquire high-resolution diffusion data. Magn Reson Med 79:141-151, 2018. © 2017 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.
authors.affiliation: Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA.|Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Kawin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Setsompop
authors.affiliation: Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA.|Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Qiuyun
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA.|Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stockmann
authors.affiliation: Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA.|Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Berkin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bilgic
authors.affiliation: Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA.|Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Susie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA.|Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Cauley
authors.affiliation: Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA.|Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Aapo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nummenmaa
authors.affiliation: Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA.|Medical Engineering & Medical Physics, Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Fuyixue
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Yogesh
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Rathi
authors.affiliation: Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA.|Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Witzel
authors.affiliation: Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA.|Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Lawrence L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Wald
mesh_terms: D016880:Anisotropy; D000886:Anthropometry; D016477:Artifacts; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006257:Head / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009038:Motion; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011846:Radio Waves; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D059629:Signal-To-Noise Ratio
keywords: diffusion imaging; simultaneous multislab; simultaneous multislice; slice encoding