J. L. Holtrop1, A. T. Van2, B. P. Sutton1, 3
1Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, United States; 2Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, United States; 3Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, United States
High resolution diffusion weighted imaging can provide more accurate information on structural connectivity of small fiber structures. Achieving high resolution with diffusion weighting provides many challenges. Among these challenges is the need to achieve sufficient SNR. We propose an approach to diffusion imaging that increases SNR efficiency by employing a multi-slab strategy which is used to optimize the TR and combine this with a multi-shot 3D encoding and motion induced phase error correction. The strategy, employed along with advances in image reconstruction, enable the acquisition of 1mm isotropic diffusion weighted images. Examples are shown for a whole brain study.