Sarah E. Williams1,2, Anneriet Heemskerk3,4,
Edward Brian Welch2,3, Bruce M. Damon2,3, Jane H. Park3,5
1Biomedical Engineering,
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States; 2Institute of
Imaging Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States; 3Radiology
& Radiological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United
States; 4Radiology, Erasmus Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United
States; 5Molecular Physiology & Biophysics, Vanderbilt
University, Nashville, TN, United States
Adipose infiltration into skeletal muscle due to disease may confound muscle diffusion measurements. We determined the water signal percentage which must be present in a region of interest to allow it to represent the diffusion properties of the muscle accurately. Quantitative fat-water percentage maps were created, and the indices of the diffusion tensor were related to the water percentage in regions of interest in the image. The measured diffusion properties for regions containing water signal percentages of <40% differed significantly from those of pure muscle. This should be considered when using water diffusion to represent microstructural damage in muscle.