Simultaneous Multislice Accelerated Free-Breathing Diffusion-Weighted Imaging of the Liver at 3T

Purpose: To perform image quality comparison between accelerated multiband diffusion acquisition (mb2-DWI) and conventional diffusion acquisition (c-DWI) in patients undergoing clinically indicated liver MRI. Methods: In this prospective study 22 consecutive patients undergoing clinically indicated liver MRI on a 3-T scanner equipped to perform multiband diffusion-weighed imaging (mb-DWI) were included. DWI was performed with single-shot spin-echo echo-planar technique with fat-suppression in free breathing with matching parameters when possible using c-DWI, mb-DWI, and multiband DWI with a twofold acceleration (mb2-DWI). These diffusion sequences were compared with respect to various parameters of image quality, lesion detectability, and liver ADC measurements. Results: Accelerated mb2-DWI was 40.9% faster than c-DWI (88 vs. 149 s). Various image quality parameter scores were similar or higher on mb2-DWI when compared to c-DWI. The overall image quality score (averaged over the three readers) was significantly higher for mb-2 compared to c-DWI for b = 0 s/mm² (3.48 ± 0.52 vs. 3.21 ± 0.54; p = 0.001) and for b = 800 s/mm² (3.24 ± 0.76 vs. 3.06 ± 0.86; p = 0.010). Total of 25 hepatic lesions were visible on mb2-DWI and c-DWI, with identical lesion detectability. There was no significant difference in liver ADC between mb2-DWI and c-DWI (p = 0.12). Bland–Altman plot demonstrates lower mean liver ADC with mb2-DWI compared to c-DWI (by 0.043 × 10⁻³ mm²/s or 3.7% of the average ADC). Conclusion: Multiband technique can be used to increase acquisition speed nearly twofold for free-breathing DWI of the liver with similar or improved overall image quality and similar lesion detectability compared to conventional DWI.