Comparison of diffusion-weighted MRI acquisition techniques for normal pancreas at 3.0 Tesla.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: We aimed to optimize diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) acquisitions for normal pancreas at 3.0 Tesla. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty healthy volunteers were examined using four DWI acquisition techniques with b values of 0 and 600 s/mm2 at 3.0 Tesla, including breath-hold DWI, respiratory-triggered DWI, respiratory-triggered DWI with inversion recovery (IR), and free-breathing DWI with IR. Artifacts, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of normal pancreas were statistically evaluated among different DWI acquisitions. RESULTS: Statistical differences were noticed in artifacts, SNR, and ADC values of normal pancreas among different DWI acquisitions by ANOVA (P <0.001). Normal pancreas imaging had the lowest artifact in respiratory-triggered DWI with IR, the highest SNR in respiratory-triggered DWI, and the highest ADC value in free-breathing DWI with IR. The head, body, and tail of normal pancreas had statistically different ADC values on each DWI acquisition by ANOVA (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The highest image quality for normal pancreas was obtained using respiratory-triggered DWI with IR. Normal pancreas displayed inhomogeneous ADC values along the head, body, and tail structures.