Full Optimization of Multi-Shell Diffusion Acquisition Schemes for Advanced Microstructural Imaging

Silvia De Santis¹, Yaniv Assaf², Derek K. Jones¹

A comprehensive optimisation of the experimental acquisition scheme for advanced microstructural imaging is developed, optimising and comparing different approaches reported in the literature though both Monte-Carlo simulations and in vivo acquisitions. As a result, an optimised protocol for multi-shells acquisitions is proposed, that balances scan duration with accuracy/precision on the estimated parameters, needing only a 12 minutes acquisition for whole-brain maps of the axonal density and the fibre orientation.