3D MERMAID: 3D Multishot Enhanced Recovery Motion Artifact Insensitive Diffusion sequence for sub-millimeter SNR efficient diffusion imaging

Motivation: Several 2D/3D diffusion sequences have been developed to improve the resolution of diffusion MRI, but require long scan times. Goal(s): To improve SNR efficiency of diffusion imaging to obtain submillimeter resolutions with high q-space sampling in a reasonable time on clinical scanners. Approach: We previously proposed a novel 3D diffusion sequence that includes an additional inversion pulse for enhanced signal recovery, and a TURBINE readout for motion correction. Here, we enhance the SNR efficiency further by removing data corrupted by motion, and incorporating compressed-sensing into the reconstruction. Results: Whole brain scans at 0.74mm isotropic resolution in 112 diffusion directions were acquired in 37minutes. Impact: We designed a multi-shot 3D diffusion sequence that is SNR efficient and robust to motion artifacts between shots. This sequence enables high spatial and angular resolution diffusion-weighted imaging of the whole brain in short scan times on clinical 3T systems.