Higher field reduced FOV diffusion-weighted imaging for abdominal imaging at 5.0 Tesla: image quality evaluation compared with 3.0 Tesla

Objective To evaluate the image quality of reduced field-of-view (rFOV) DWI for abdominal imaging at 5.0 Tesla (T) compared with 3.0 T.Methods Fifteen volunteers were included into this prospective study. All the subjects underwent the 3.0 T and 5.0 T MR examinations (time interval: 2 +/- 1.9 days). Free-breathing (FB), respiratory-triggered (RT), and navigator-triggered (NT) spin-echo echo-planner imaging-based rFOV-DWI examinations were conducted at 3.0 T and 5.0 T (FB3.0 T, NT3.0 T, RT3.0 T, FB5.0 T, NT5.0 T, and RT5.0 T) with two b values (b = 0 and 800 s/mm2), respectively. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of different acquisition approaches were determined and statistically compared. The image quality was assessed and statistically compared with a 5-point scoring system.Results The SNRs of any 5.0 T DWI images were significantly higher than those of any 3.0 T DWI images for same anatomic locations. Moreover, 5.0 T rFOV-DWIs had the significantly higher sharpness scores than 3.0 T rFOV-DWIs. Similar distortion scores were observed at both 3.0 T and 5.0 T. Finally, RT5.0 T displayed the best overall image quality followed by NT5.0 T, FB5.0 T, RT3.0 T, NT3.0 T and FB3.0 T (RT5.0 T = 3.9 +/- 0.3, NT5.0 T = 3.8 +/- 0.3, FB5.0 T = 3.4 +/- 0.3, RT3.0 T = 3.2 +/- 0.4, NT3.0 T = 3.1 +/- 0.4, and FB3.0 T = 2.7 +/- 0.4, p < 0.001).Conclusion The 5.0 T rFOV-DWI showed better overall image quality and improved SNR compared to 3.0 T rFOV-DWI, which holds clinical potential for identifying the abdominal abnormalities in routine practice.