Bias in MRI Measurements of Apparent Diffusion Coefficient and Kurtosis: Implications for Choice of Maximum Diffusion Encoding

Nima Gilani, Glyn Johnson*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Tissue water diffusion is non-Gaussian and the expressions used to calculate diffusion parameters are approximations which introduce systematic errors dependent on the maximum diffusion encoding, diffusion time, etc. This study aimed at characterizing biases in estimates of both apparent diffusion coefficient and kurtosis, and determines their dependence on these parameters. Similar to the approach of several previous studies, Taylor expansion of the diffusion signal was used to calculate biases. Predicted errors were compared with data from one volunteer. Predicted errors agreed well with the measured errors and also the published diffusion tensor imaging measurements. The equations derived predict biases in measured diffusion parameters and explain much of the discrepancy between measurements obtained with different acquisition protocols. The equations may also be used to choose appropriate diffusion encoding for diffusion weighted, tensor, and kurtosis imaging.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)47-61
Number of pages15
JournalApplied Magnetic Resonance
Volume50
Issue number1-3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2019

Keywords

  • NON-GAUSSIAN DIFFUSION
  • B-VALUE
  • WATER DIFFUSION
  • BRAIN
  • BENIGN
  • MATTER
  • MODEL

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