Model-based joint reconstruction for multishot diffusion kurtosis imaging

Motivation: The acquisition time of multishot DKI is long due to the use of multiple shots, b-values, and diffusion directions, hindering its clinical application. Goal(s): To develop a reconstruction method for accelerating multishot high-resolution DKI. Approach: DKI signal decay model was exploited to construct a model-based reconstruction framework, and total variation constraint on DKI tensors was adopted to reduce the effect of noise. Results: Preliminarily in-vivo experiment validated that the proposed method can significantly reduce noise in the reconstructed images and DKI parameters at under-sampled factor of 4. Impact: Given the advantages of the proposed method in experiments with high under-sampled factor, it has clinical potential for fast high-resolution DKI acquisitions.