Application of K-Space Energy Spectrum Analysis for Inherent and Dynamic B0 Mapping and Distortion Correction in DTI

Trong-Kha Truong¹, Nan-kuei Chen¹, Allen W. Song¹

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is vulnerable to spatial and temporal B₀ variations due to susceptibility effects, eddy currents, subject motion, physiological noise, and system instabilities, resulting in geometric distortions and subsequent errors in the derivation of the diffusion tensor. Here, we propose a novel method based on k-space energy spectrum analysis, which can inherently and dynamically generate a B₀ map from the k-space data for each baseline (b = 0) and diffusion-weighted image, without requiring any additional data acquisition, to effectively and efficiently correct for such artifacts and achieve a high spatial fidelity and accuracy.