Vibhas S. Deshpande1, Dorota J. Wisner2,
John W. Grinstead1, Thorsten Feiweier3, Bonnie N. Joe2,
Gerhard A. Laub1
1Siemens Medical Solutions
USA, Inc., San Francisco, CA, United States; 2Dept. of Radiology
& Biomedical Engineering, UCSF, San Francisco, CA, United States; 3Siemens
Medical Solutions, Erlangen, Germany
Breast MRI has high sensitivity in detecting malignancies, but suffers from moderate specificity for lesion characterization. Diffusion imaging has shown promise for better lesion characterization. Diffusion imaging at 3T offers higher SNR, which can translate to higher spatial resolution and improved diagnostic utility. However, single-shot EPI (ss-EPI) diffusion imaging is sensitive to B0 inhomogeneities, which can cause image artifacts. Moreover, in wide-bore (70 cm) 3T scanners, with the higher likelihood of larger patients, the problems of non-uniform B0 are exacerbated. In this work, we demonstrate the efficacy of technical improvements in ss-EPI breast diffusion imaging for improving image quality. These improvements are applicable to all field strengths and scanner types.