Feasibility of Low Q-Space Diffusion MRI at 1.5T

Henry H. Ong¹, Yusuf Bhagat¹, Jeremy Magland¹, Felix W. Wehrli¹

A major limitation of q-space imaging is the need for strong gradient amplitudes for sufficient displacement resolution to accurately assess axonal architecture in white matter. Low q-value diffusion MRI extracts architectural information by fitting the q-space echo decay at low q-values (q^-1 >> mean axon diameter) thus obviating the need for strong gradient amplitudes, which greatly facilitates clinical implementation. Here, we investigate the feasibility of this method to assess axon architecture in excised fixed porcine spinal cords at 1.5T. The results demonstrate the potential of low q-value diffusion MRI to estimate regional mean axon diameter and intracellular volume fraction.