SNR-efficient distortion-free diffusion relaxometry imaging using ACcelerated Echo-train shifted EPTI (ACE-EPTI)

Abstract Purpose To develop an efficient acquisition technique for distortion-free diffusion MRI and diffusion-relaxometry. Methods A new ACcelerated Echo-train shifted Echo-Planar Time-resolved Imaging (ACE-EPTI) technique is developed to achieve high-SNR, distortion- and blurring-free diffusion and diffusion-relaxometry imaging. ACE-EPTI employs a newly designed variable density spatiotemporal encoding with self-navigation capability, that allows submillimeter in-plane resolution using only 3-shot. Moreover, an echo-train-shifted acquisition is developed to achieve minimal TE, together with an SNR-optimal readout length, leading to ~30% improvement in SNR efficiency over single-shot EPI. To recover the highly accelerated data with high image quality, a tailored subspace image reconstruction framework is developed, that corrects for odd/even-echo phase difference, shot-to-shot phase variation, and the B 0 field changes due to field drift and eddy currents across different dynamics. After the phase-corrected subspace reconstruction, artifacts-free high-SNR diffusion images at multiple TEs are obtained with varying T 2 * weighting. Results Simulation, phantom and in-vivo experiments were performed, which validated the 3-shot spatiotemporal encoding provides accurate reconstruction at submillimeter resolution. The use of echo-train shifting and optimized readout length improves the SNR-efficiency by 27-36% over single-shot EPI. The reconstructed multi-TE diffusion images were demonstrated to be free from distortion (susceptibility and eddy currents) and phase/field variation induced artifacts. These improvements of ACE-EPTI enable improved diffusion tensor imaging and rich multi-TE information for diffusion-relaxometry analysis. Conclusion ACE-EPTI was demonstrated to be an efficient and powerful technique for high-resolution diffusion imaging and diffusion-relaxometry, which provides high SNR, distortion- and blurring-free, and time-resolved multi-echo images by a fast 3-shot acquisition.