Abstract #2082

Influence of Image Noise and Microcapillary Perfusion (IVIM) on Diffusional Kurtosis Measurements in the Body

Olaf Dietrich¹, Anno Graser, Martina Karpitschka, Melvin D'Anastasi, Maximilian F. Reiser,¹

¹Josef Lissner Laboratory for Biomedical Imaging, Institute for Clinical Radiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Hospital Munich, Munich, Germany

The purpose of this study was to analyze the influence of image noise and intravoxel-incoherent-motion (IVIM) effects on diffusional kurtosis imaging (DKI) outside the brain. DKI was performed in the prostate (b_max=2000s/mm) and data was analyzed with and without fit of the noise level and with and without suppression of IVIM effects. Kurtosis values were substantially increased due to noise and also due to IVIM effects at low b-values. Including the image noise level into the kurtosis analysis and choosing a minimum b-value of 200s/mm is recommend for DKI outside the brain.