Single-shot and multi-shot cardiac diffusion MRI in vivo using high-amplitude gradient of 200mT/m

Motivation: High gradient hardware has the potential to reduce TE and improve SNR for Cardiac diffusion tensor imaging (cDTI) for both single-shot (SS-EPI) and multi-shot EPI (MS-EPI) approaches. However, gradient amplitude and slew rate can be limited due to Peripheral and Cardiac Nerve stimulation (PNS/CNS). Goal(s): To compare Gmax=200mT/m and Gmax=80mT/m systems for cDTI. Approach: Healthy volunteers (n=3) were imaged on both systems using SS-EPI and MS-EPI. PNS/CNS and diffusion parametric mapping were compared. Results: Equivalent diffusion parameters were found for all acquisitions and systems. At Gmax=200mT/m, MS-EPI used the hardware system efficiently due to reduced PNS but remained limited by CNS. Impact: In this work, we studied hardware limitations due to PNS/CNS for two high-gradient systems for SS-EPI and MS-EPI. MS-EPI reduces image distortions due to B0 inhomogeneities, improves SNR compared to SS-EPI, and used the most efficiently the hardware system.