Mitigating Geometric Distortion & Susceptibility Artifacts in cDTI via SAP-M2-EPI: A feasibility study

Motivation: We aimed to enhance in vivo cardiac diffusion tensor imaging (cDTI), a technique challenged by limitations, especially in high-BMI patients, causing notable aliasing and distortion issues. Goal(s): Our primary goal was to introduce and validate Short-Axis-PROPELLER-M2-EPI (SAP-M2-EPI) for cDTI. The focus was on reducing aliasing and distortion artifacts while ensuring robust motion correction. Approach: SAP-M2-EPI combines motion-compensated diffusion gradients with PROPELLER, effectively minimizing motion artifacts and suppressing aliasing and distortion. Results: Our study shows that SAP-M2-EPI successfully mitigates motion artifacts and significantly reduces aliasing and distortion, particularly beneficial for high-BMI patients. This innovative approach holds great promise for enhancing cDTI diagnostic accuracy. Impact: Impact: SAP-M2-EPI’s success offers clinicians a potent tool for enhancing cDTI diagnoses, especially in high-BMI patients. It opens doors to in-depth cardiac research, encourages further methodological innovations, and ultimately promises better patient care through more accurate imaging.