The application of diffusion-weighted line-scanning for the rapid assessment of water ADC changes in stroke at high magnetic fields

Rapid changes in the apparent diffusion coefficient of water following brain ischemia have been extensively studied using echo planar diffusion imaging at low fields (2.0 T). There is a desire to perform these studies at higher fields (>3.0 T) where the benefits of improved signal-to-noise can be exploited. Unfortunately, EPI diffusion is technically difficult to implement at high fields because of large magnetic susceptibility effects. This article demonstrates the feasibility of employing a line-scan diffusion protocol for ADCw measurements in stroke. The technique was applied on a 4.0 T system to monitor the decline in ADCw following the induction of focal cerebral ischemia in rat. ADCw data were acquired every 15 s with 10 b-values or every 22.5 s with 15 b-values, with a cubic spatial resolution of 1.5 mm. The results demonstrate that estimates of ADCw can be acquired with coefficients of variation under 3.0%, and with a combination of spatial and temporal resolution comparable to that previously reported for EPI.