Quantitative Evaluation of High Reduction Factor Diffusion-weighted Images Using Compressed SENSE

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to clarify the difference in image characteristics of EPI with compressed SENSE (EPICS) DWI and conventional EPI-SENSE DWI when the reduction factor is increased, and to investigate the optimal reduction factor setting for EPICS DWI. Using Philips MRI Ingenia Elition 3.0T and a phantom, we compared the SNR, CNR, and ADC values between the EPI-SENSE and EPICS methods with increasing reduction factor. The presence of deployment failure artifacts was verified by the dynamic noise scan method. P<0.05 was set as the significance level. The EPICS method showed significantly higher SNR (1.1-1.4 times) and CNR (1.3-1.8 times) than the EPI-SENSE method at reduction factors 2-5 (P<0.05), with less deployment failure artifacts. The ADC of the EPICS method was 0.03-0.07×10-3 mm2/s lower at reduction factors 3-5. EPICS DWI is a useful imaging method that is highly effective in reducing image degradation in high reduction factor imaging.