Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) are established techniques of magnetic
resonance widely used for the characterization of the cerebral tissue. Despite the successful application in the brain,
diffusion-weighted single-shot echo-planar-imaging (EPI) of the spinal cord is hindered by the need for highly-resolved
spatial encoding in an area of strong magnetic field inhomogeneities, and the shortness of transverse relaxation time.
The major aim of this study was the optimization of a reliable single-shot EPI sequence for DTI of the spinal cord at
1.5T.
Ten healthy volunteers participated in the study (mean age=28.4±3.1). A single-shot EPI sequence with double spinecho
diffusion preparation and nominal in-plane resolution of 0.9x0.9mm2 was optimized with regard to cerebrospinal
fluid artifacts, and contrast-to-noise ratio between gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM). The effective sequence
resolution was evaluated on a phantom.
A cardiac-pulse gated sequence with optimal matrix size (read x phase=64x32) and b-value (700s/mm2) allowed for the
acquisition of highly-resolved images of the spinal cord (effective in-plane resolution=1.1mm). Preliminary results on
two healthy volunteers showed that the butterfly-shaped GM is clearly recognizable in the reconstructed fractional
anisotropy (FA) maps. Measured WM FA values were 0.698±0.076 and 0.756±0.046. No significant differences were
found in the mean diffusivity computed in the WM as compared to the GM areas.
Optimized spinal cord diffusion imaging provided promising preliminary results on healthy volunteers. The application
of the proposed protocol in the assessment of neurological disorders may allow for improved characterization of healthy
and impaired WM and GM.
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