Post-Hoc Spatial Registration of Multiple B-Value Diffusion Weighted Images Improves Test-Retest Reliability of ADC Measurements in Solid Tumors in the Body

Alexandre Coimbra¹, Jill Fredrickson¹, Roel Funke¹, Daniel Chen¹, Alex de Crespigny¹

Accurate assessment of tissue apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) requires acquisition and analysis of multiple b-value diffusion weighted images (DWI). One important source of variability in this ADC assessment is spatial misregistration across the multiple DWIs, particularly those at high b-values. The current work describes a simple post-hoc automated approach for spatial registration of multiple b-value DWIs. Applied to test-retest data set from a cohort of cancer patients, this approach enhanced repeatability of ADC measurements.