Robust and Motion-Insensitive Approach to Diffusion-Weighted Half-Fourier Acquisition Single-Shot Turbo Spin-Echo Imaging

Abstract

Half-Fourier acquisition single-shot turbo spin-echo diffusion-weighted (DW-HASTE) is a clinically established magnetic resonance imaging tool for the detection of small lesions, particularly cholesteatoma. However, in the standard approach, half of the available signal is sacrificed through displacing one echo parity out of the acquisition window to fulfil the Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill condition. We present a selective parity approach to tackle this problem. The proposed method features a near full sensitivity, a low specific absorption rate for long echo trains, and about two-fold increase in signal-to-noise ratio, compared to the manufacturer's method under the same conditions.