High-Field Diffusion MR Histology: Image-Based Correction of Eddy-Current Ghosts in Diffusion-Weighted Rapid Acquisition With Relaxation Enhancement (DW-RARE)

High-resolution, diffusion-weighted (DW) MR microscopy is gaining increasing acceptance as a nondestructive histological tool for the study of fixed tissue samples. Spin-echo sequences are popular for high-field diffusion imaging due to their high tolerance to B(0) field inhomogeneities. Volumetric DW rapid acquisition with relaxation enhancement (DW-RARE) currently offers the best tradeoff between imaging efficiency and image quality, but is relatively sensitive to residual eddy-current effects on the echo train phase, resulting in encoding direction-dependent ghosting in the DW images. We introduce two efficient, image-based phase corrections for ghost artifact reduction in DW-RARE of fixed tissue samples, neither of which require navigator echo acquisition. Both methods rely on the phase difference in k-space between the unweighted reference image and a given DW image and assume a constant, per-echo phase error arising from residual eddy-current effects in the absence of sample motion. Significant qualitative and quantitative ghost artifact reductions are demonstrated for individual DW and calculated diffusion tensor images. Magn Reson Med 61:728-733, 2009. (C) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.