Adapting the Kärger model to account for finite diffusion-encoding pulses in diffusion MRI

Abstract

Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) is an imaging modality that probes the diffusion characteristics of a sample via the application of magnetic field gradient pulses. If the imaging voxel can be divided into different Gaussian diffusion compartments with inter-compartment exchange governed by linear kinetics, then the dMRI signal can be described by the Kärger model, which is a well-known model in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. However, the Kärger model is limited to the case when the duration of the diffusion-encoding gradient pulses is short compared to the time delay between the start of the pulses. Under this assumption, the time at which to evaluate the Kärger model to obtain the dMRI signal is unambiguously the delay between the pulses. Recently, a new model of the dMRI signal, the Finite-Pulse Kärger (FPK) model, was derived for arbitrary diffusion gradient profiles. Relying on the FPK model, we show that when the duration of the gradient pulses is not short, the time at which to evaluate the Kärger model should be the time delay between the start of the pulses, shortened by one third of the pulse duration. With this choice, we show the sixth order convergence of the Kärger model to the FPK model in the non-dimensionalized pulse duration.