Premium
Line‐scan diffusion tensor MR imaging at 0.2 T: Feasibility study
Author(s) -
Hori Masaaki,
Aoki Shigeki,
Okubo Toshiyuki,
Ishigame Keiichi,
Kumagai Hiroshi,
Araki Tsutomu
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of magnetic resonance imaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.563
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1522-2586
pISSN - 1053-1807
DOI - 10.1002/jmri.20440
Subject(s) - diffusion mri , fractional anisotropy , white matter , nuclear medicine , effective diffusion coefficient , nuclear magnetic resonance , diffusion imaging , medicine , tractography , corticospinal tract , magnetic resonance imaging , physics , radiology
Abstract Purpose To investigate and measure apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and fractional anisotropy (FA) values using data obtained with line‐scan diffusion‐weighted imaging (DWI) of human brains on a 0.2 Tesla MR imager. Materials and Methods Diffusion‐tensor imaging (DTI) was performed on eight healthy volunteers. The signal‐to‐noise ratios (SNRs) of white matter and cerebrospinal fluid were measured. ADC and FA were also measured from the data obtained from all subjects. Three‐dimensional corticospinal fiber tracts were reconstructed from the DT images and a qualitative evaluation was done. Results The total scan time was 52 minutes 30 seconds for 18 slices with full‐tensor images covering the whole brain. The ADCs and FAs show the appropriate values, in comparison with values obtained at high field strength in previous studies. Corticospinal fibers were demonstrated more clearly on images obtained at 0.2 T than at 1.5T. Conclusion DTI at low field strength may be feasible for clinical use to estimate the white matter of brain with limited coverage, which often may be sufficient. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.