Abstract #4536

Effects of Multichannel Transmission on DTI Metrics

Geng Guangqiang¹, Roland Henry², Caroline Rae^1,3

¹Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia; ²Departments of Radiology & Biomedical Imaging, Neurology, & Bioengineering Graduate Group, University of California, San Francisco, United States; ³UNSW, Sydney, Australia

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with multi-transmission of RF pulses achieves a more homogeneous B1 excitation, improves the signal-to-noise ratio and reduces specific absorption rate. This would benefit imaging methodologies sensitive to noise such as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). In order to verify the improved imaging performance with the multi-transmission of RF, we have quantified the uncertainties of DTI measurements for anisotropy through the bootstrap algorithm. We have proved that the uncertainties of DTI results are consistently reduced with multi-transmission of RF, and this will potentially reduce the necessary scan time and SAR while maintaining the reliability of DTI measurements.