Combined diffusion-relaxometry microstructure imaging: Current status and future prospects

Paddy J Slator; Marco Palombo; Karla L Miller; Carl-Fredrik Westin; Frederik Laun; Daeun Kim; Justin P Haldar; Dan Benjamini; Gregory Lemberskiy; Joao P de Almeida Martins; Jana Hutter

doi:10.1002/mrm.28963

Combined diffusion-relaxometry microstructure imaging: Current status and future prospects

Magn Reson Med. 2021 Dec;86(6):2987-3011. doi: 10.1002/mrm.28963. Epub 2021 Aug 19.

Authors

Paddy J Slator¹, Marco Palombo¹, Karla L Miller², Carl-Fredrik Westin³, Frederik Laun⁴, Daeun Kim^{5

6}, Justin P Haldar^{5

6}, Dan Benjamini^{7

8}, Gregory Lemberskiy⁹, Joao P de Almeida Martins^{10

11}, Jana Hutter^{12

13}

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Medical Image Computing, Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, UK.
² Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, FMRIB, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
³ Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁴ Institute of Radiology, University Hospital Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany.
⁵ Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁶ Signal and Image Processing Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁷ The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁸ The Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine, Uniformed Service University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁹ Center for Biomedical Imaging, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁰ Division of Physical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
¹¹ Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, St. Olav's University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway.
¹² Centre for Biomedical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging, King's College London, London, UK.
¹³ Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging, King's College London, London, UK.

Abstract

Microstructure imaging seeks to noninvasively measure and map microscopic tissue features by pairing mathematical modeling with tailored MRI protocols. This article reviews an emerging paradigm that has the potential to provide a more detailed assessment of tissue microstructure-combined diffusion-relaxometry imaging. Combined diffusion-relaxometry acquisitions vary multiple MR contrast encodings-such as b-value, gradient direction, inversion time, and echo time-in a multidimensional acquisition space. When paired with suitable analysis techniques, this enables quantification of correlations and coupling between multiple MR parameters-such as diffusivity, $T_{1}$ , $T_{2}$ , and $T_{2}^{*}$ . This opens the possibility of disentangling multiple tissue compartments (within voxels) that are indistinguishable with single-contrast scans, enabling a new generation of microstructural maps with improved biological sensitivity and specificity.

Keywords: diffusion; multidimensional MRI; quantitative MRI; relaxometry.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Brain* / diagnostic imaging
Diffusion
Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging*
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Models, Theoretical

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding