Basic principles and technique of diffusion-weighted imaging and diffusion tensor imaging

Der Radiologe
M Backens

Abstract

Due to their thermal energy, water molecules in tissue are in continuous random motion called diffusion. Water diffusion in pathologically modified tissue (e. g. ischemia, inflammation and neoplasia) is different from normal conditions. Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) imaging (DWI) can measure the local strength and main direction of the diffusional motion in any picture element, thus providing diagnostic tissue information exceeding the morphological depiction. Diffusion-weighted MR sequences are based on the echo planar imaging (EPI) technique which is very rapid but also susceptible to artefacts. Using especially strong magnetic field gradient pulses the MR signal is sensitized to microscopic motion of water molecules resulting in a unique image contrast in addition to T1 and T2. Local deviations of the diffusion strength from normal values indicate pathological processes. The DWI sequences can measure diffusion along any direction; however, in the clinical routine only directionally averaged DWI images (trace maps) are used. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) represents an advanced DWI method which specifically explores diffusional anisotropy in order to obtain additional information about tissue microstructure. Diff...Continue Reading

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Citations

Sep 4, 2015·Der Radiologe·U Yilmaz
Jul 29, 2016·Toxicological Sciences : an Official Journal of the Society of Toxicology·Eun-Young LeeXuemei Huang
Mar 12, 2017·Der Radiologe·P RiffelJ Krammer

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