Biology subjects

Dall'Armellina, E.

Publications and source records attributed to Dall'Armellina, E..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

ZOnally magnified Oblique Multi-slice (ZOOM) for cardiac diffusion weighted imaging in vivo

PurposeCardiac diffusion weighted imaging (cDWI) commonly utilizes 2D-selective RF-pulses (such as ZOOMit) to avoid aliasing artifacts when reducing the field of view (FOV). These RF-pulses, which may require parallel transmit capability, typically take several 10s of milliseconds, prolonging the echo time (TE) of the imaging sequence. Conversely, slice selection using ZOnally-magnified Oblique Multi-slice (ZOOM) (i.e. tilting the excitation relative to the refocusing RF-pulse) is an alternative for reducing FOV while shortening TE. We hypothesized that ZOOM, with appropriate choices for the RF-pulse tilt angle and thickness, can be reliably used as an alternative to ZOOMit for cardiac Diffusion Tensor Imaging (cDTI). MethodsWe scanned phantoms using full FOV and ZOOM with various parameters chosen from a 2-dimensional grid of angles and thicknesses. We identified a subset of 5 ZOOM parameters for in vivo cDTI experiments. We performed cDTI on healthy volunteers on a Siemens Prisma (6 subjects) and a Connectom (6 subjects) MR system using the 5 identified ZOOM settings, as well as ZOOMit (Prisma only) and no ZOOM (Connectom only). We compared mean diffusivity (MD), fractional anisotropy (FA), and secondary eigenvector angle (|E2A|) between scans. ResultsAverage MD, and standard deviation of MD and FA, were significantly reduced by ZOOM compared to no ZOOM on Connectom. We found no significant differences in any averaged diffusion measures between ZOOMit and ZOOM on Prisma. ConclusionCombining ZOOM with cardiac diffusion weighted imaging allows for TE to be considerably shortened (from 79ms to 67ms) while reducing FOV to avoid aliasing artifacts.

biophysics↗

bioRxiv2025

Cardiac diffusion kurtosis imaging in the human heart in vivo using 300mT/m gradients

PurposeDiffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is commonly used in cardiac diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI). However, the tissues microstructure (cells, membranes, etc.) restricts the movement of the water molecules, making the spin displacements deviate from Gaussian behaviour. This effect may be observed with diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) using sufficiently high b-values (b > 450 s/mm2), which are presently outside the realm of routine cardiac dMRI due to the limited gradient strength of clinical scanners. The Connectom scanner with Gmax = 300 mT/m enables high b-values at echo times (TE) similar to DTI on standard clinical scanners, therefore facilitating cardiac DKI in humans. MethodsCardiac-gated, second-order motion-compensated dMRI was performed with bmax = 1350 s/mm2 in 10 healthy volunteers on a 3T MRI scanner with Gmax = 300 mT/m. The signal was fitted to a cumulant expansion up to and including the kurtosis term and diffusion metrics such as fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), mean kurtosis (MK), axial kurtosis (AK), and radial kurtosis (RK) were calculated. ResultsWe demonstrate deviation of the signal from monoexponential decay for b-values > 450 s/mm2 (MK = 0.32 {+/-} 0.03). Radial kurtosis (RK = 0.35 {+/-} 0.04) was observed slightly larger than axial kurtosis (AK = 0.27 {+/-} 0.02), and the difference is statistically significant (RK - AK = 0.08 {+/-} 0.04, p = 2e - 4). ConclusionThis work demonstrates the feasibility of quantifying kurtosis effect in the human heart in vivo (at an echo time shorter than typical TEs reported for cardiac DTI), using high-performance gradient systems (which are 4-8 times stronger than on standard clinical scanners). Our work lays the foundation for exploring new biomarkers in cardiac dMRI beyond DTI.

biophysics↗