Clinical single-shot diffusion-weighted MRI of the human brain on a short-bore medium-field imager

Diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) is becoming important for assessment of acute stroke. Until recently single-shot DWI required expensive technology such as echoplanar imaging (EPI) available only at some research sites. A new medium-field (1.0 T) short-bore MR imager has been developed with which DWI data sets can be acquired. We prospectively studied 169 patients on this 1.0 T commercial system. After conventional imaging, DWI was performed with a single-shot multi-slice sequence with b values 0 an 900 s/mm2, and with the gradients switched in three directions. The apparent diffusion coefficients were calculated with online calculation software. There were 50 patients with totally normal MRI, and 17 had strokes, these strokes were detected as areas of high signal on the images at a maximal b value. There was a drop in the ADC in ischaemic regions: in sub-acute infarcts, the values were between 0.41 and 0.531 x 10(-3) mm2/s. In old infarcts the ADC was 1.15 x 10(-3) mm2/s. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) gave low signal whereas areas in the brain had more intermediate intensities (CSF: 3.00; deep white matter: 0.75, cortical grey matter: 0.80, basal ganglia (thalamus): 0.70 and cerebellar white matter: 0.65 x 10(-3) mm2/s. Anisotropy was detected as areas of restricted diffusion along the tracts. These preliminary data show that DWI can be acquired successfully on a medium-field short-bore system. This should allow the technique to be implemented at more sites, therefore facilitating the diagnosis of acute stroke and rendering early intervention feasible.