Abstract
PurposeTo investigate the sensitivity of diffusionâMR signal to microstructural change in muscle tissue associated with pathology, and recommend optimal acquisition parameters.MethodsWe employ MonteâCarlo simulation of diffusing spins in hierarchical tissue to generate synthetic diffusionâweighted signal curves over a wide range of scan parameters. Curves are analyzed using entropyâa measure of curve complexity. Entropy change between a baseline and various microstructural scenarios is investigated. We find acquisitions that optimize entropy difference in each scenario.ResultsPermeability changes have a large effect on the diffusionâweighted signal curve. Muscle fiber atrophy is also important, although differentiating between mechanisms is challenging. Several acquisitions over a range of diffusion times is optimal for imaging microstructural change in muscle tissue. Sensitivity to permeability is optimized for high gradient strengths, but sensitivity to other scenarios is optimal at other values.ConclusionsThe diffusionâattenuated signal is sensitive to the microstructural changes, but the changes are subtle. Taking full advantage of the changes to the overall curve requires a set of acquisitions over a range of diffusion times. Permeability causes the largest changes, but even the very subtle changes associated with fiber radius distribution change the curves more than noise alone. Magn Reson Med 78:1187â1198, 2017. Š 2016 The Authors Magnetic Resonance in Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons AttributionâNonCommercialâNoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is nonâcommercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
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