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PGSE, OGSE, and sensitivity to axon diameter in diffusion MRI: Insight from a simulation study

Drobnjak, I; Zhang, H; Ianuş, A; Kaden, E; Alexander, DC; (2016) PGSE, OGSE, and sensitivity to axon diameter in diffusion MRI: Insight from a simulation study. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine , 75 (2) pp. 688-700. 10.1002/mrm.25631. Green open access

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Abstract

Purpose To identify optimal pulsed gradient spin-echo (PGSE) and oscillating gradient spin-echo (OGSE) sequence settings for maximizing sensitivity to axon diameter in idealized and practical conditions. Methods Simulations on a simple two-compartment white matter model (with nonpermeable cylinders) are used to investigate a wide space of clinically plausible PGSE and OGSE sequence parameters with trapezoidal diffusion gradient waveforms. Signal sensitivity is measured as a derivative of the signal with respect to axon diameter. Models of parallel and dispersed fibers are investigated separately to represent idealized and practical conditions. Results Simulations show that, for the simple case of gradients perfectly perpendicular to straight parallel fibers, PGSE always gives maximum sensitivity. However, in real-world scenarios where fibers have unknown and dispersed orientation, low-frequency OGSE provides higher sensitivity. Maximum sensitivity results show that on current clinical scanners (Gmax = 60 mT/m, signal to noise ratio (SNR) = 20) axon diameters below 6 µm are indistinguishable from zero. Scanners with stronger gradient systems such as the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Connectom scanner (Gmax = 300 mT/m) can extend this sensitivity limit down to 2–3 µm, probing a much greater proportion of the underlying axon diameter distribution. Conclusion Low-frequency OGSE provides additional sensitivity to PGSE in practical situations. OGSE is particularly advantageous for systems with high performance gradients.

Type: Article
Title: PGSE, OGSE, and sensitivity to axon diameter in diffusion MRI: Insight from a simulation study
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1002/mrm.25631
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mrm.25631
Language: English
Additional information: © 2015 The Authors Magnetic Resonance in Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Keywords: axon diameter, diffusion gradients, diffusion imaging, oscillating gradient spin-echo, pulsed gradient spin-echo
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Computer Science
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1464796
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