Cape Town - 2026 ISMRM-ISMRT Annual Meeting and Exhibition - Diffusion Acquisition and Reconstruction

Diffusion Acquisition and Reconstruction

Flash Presentation

Diffusion

Thursday, 14 May 2026

Roof Terrace

16:00 - 17:36

Moderators: Pim Pullens & Fernando Boada

Session Number: 631-03

No CME/CE Credit

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This Power Pitch session presents advances in diffusion MRI acquisition strategies and image reconstruction techniques. Topics include novel pulse sequence designs, sampling schemes, motion and distortion correction and denoising approaches. These contributions aim to improve data quality, reduce scan time, and enhance the reliability of downstream diffusion analyses.

Skill Level: Intermediate

16:00		631-03-001. An Open-Source Multi-Slice (DWI) SPEN-SE-EPI Sequence in Pulseq for Robust and Vendor-Agnostic Fast MRI Andreas Holl, Shadi Tashakori, Maxim Zaitsev, Jakob Hufschmidt, Sebastian Littin University Medical Center Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany Impact: We introduce an open-source, multi-slice DW-SPEN-SE-EPI sequence with full-refocusing in Pulseq. By providing a validated, robust tool with educational code, we lower the adoption barrier, enabling researchers to easily validate SPEN in applications where conventional SE-EPI fails due to artifacts.
16:02		631-03-002. Time-dependent Diffusion MRI Differentiates Atypical from Conventional Uterine Leiomyomas: A Preliminary Study Le Fu, Jiejun Cheng, Yichen Wang Shanghai first maternity and infant hospital, Shanghai, China Impact: td-dMRI provides quantitative microstructural biomarkers that significantly enhance subtype differentiation of uterine leiomyomas, offering a noninvasive tool for accurate preoperative assessment and personalized management.
16:04		631-03-003. Approaching the Diffusion Short-Time Limit Using a Human Breast Gradient Coil with Ultra-High Gradients Pablo Jimenez, Reiner Umathum, Sebastian Littin, Feng Jia, Frederik Laun, Mark Ladd, Maxim Zaitsev, Tristan Kuder German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany Impact: Using a local breast gradient coil with ultra-high diffusion gradients enabled observation of the transition from the diffusion short time limit to long-time effects in the apparent diffusion coefficient and the diffusional kurtosis using a classical PGSE sequence.
16:06		631-03-004. Self-navigated and Accelerated 3D Long-Axis PROPELLER-EPI Enabled by Simultaneous Multi-kz Acquisition Shihui Chen, HAILIN XIONG, QITING WU, Xiaorui Xu, Yi Li, ZILONG HUANG, Hing-Chiu Chang Multi-Scale Medical Robotics Center, Shatin, Hong Kong Impact: This study demonstrates an effective self-navigated and accelerated strategy for phase correction in 3D multi-slab diffusion imaging using 3D-PROPELLER-EPI, eliminating the need for an additional 2D navigator.
16:08		631-03-005. Toward Distortion-Free Diffusion Prostate Imaging: 3D Reduced-FOV DWI Using Tailored RF Pulses Jiayao Yang, Michael Jaroszewicz, Vikas Gulani, Jon-Fredrik Nielsen, Yun Jiang University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States of America Impact: We developed a new diffusion-weighted rFOV imaging sequence with 3D RF pulse and 3D-EPI acquisition for the prostate DWI. Our results show the potential of acquiring high-resolution but less distorted rFOV diffusion images of the prostate.
16:10		631-03-006. Isotropic Dynamic DWI for Improved Measurement of Arterial-Driven CSF Pulsation Boyan Xu, Tao Wu, Guangxu Han, Yuhui Xiong, Yang Fan, Bing Wu GE HealthCare MR Research, Beijing, China Impact: Isotropic dynamic DWI enables direction-independent, cardiac-synchronized measurement of CSF pulsation using only one third of the conventional scan time, facilitating faster and more robust diffusion-based biomarkers of vascular stiffness, brain aging, and glymphatic dysfunction.
16:12		631-03-007. Fast diffusion MR spectroscopic imaging for mapping brain microstructure in rodents at 9.4T Tan Toi Phan, Eloise Mougel, Thanh Phong Lê, Julien Valette, Cristina Cudalbu CIBM Center for Biomedical Imaging, Lausanne, Switzerland Impact: The approach provides a potential tool for mapping diffusion properties of cell-specific metabolites in rodent brains, towards non-invasive monitoring of microstructural alterations associated with brain neuropathological stages.
16:14		631-03-008. Stim-CODE: PNS & CNS Constraint Optimized Diffusion Encoding with an Envelope Function for Neuro DWI on 200 mT/m Gradients Ariel Hannum, Michael Loecher, Qingping Chen, Eric Arbes, Kawin Setsompop, Maxim Zaitsev, Daniel Ennis Stanford University, Stanford, United States of America Impact: Stim-CODE enables time-optimal diffusion-encoding by dynamically managing PNS/CNS limits across all gradient events, maximizing hardware capabilities to achieve shorter TE and higher SNR.
16:16		631-03-009. 200 mT/m ultra-high gradient cardiac diffusion tensor imaging: validation in healthy participants and cardiomyopathy cohorts Ling Chen, Xianling Qian, Zhuolin Liu, Jili Chen, Christopher Nguyen, Caixia Fu, xiaoming Liu, Yuchi Liu, Yishi Wang, Yunzhu Wu, Jing An, Danielle Kara, Dingheng Mai, Moses Cook, Zachary Player, Xuhao Song, Yinyin Chen, Hang Jin, Mengsu Zeng Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China Impact: Free-breathing whole-heart cDTI with ultra-high gradients enables robust, reproducible assessment of myocardial microstructure without contrast agents. This advancement facilitates early detection of microstructural remodeling across ischemic and non-ischemic cardiac diseases, supporting broader clinical translation of cDTI.
16:18		631-03-010. Physics-Informed Harmonisation of RESOLVE and ZOOMit Prostate Diffusion MRI Karl Ludger Radke, Matthias Boschheidgen, Thomas Thiel, Lars Schimmöller, Hans-Joerg Wittsack Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (DE), Düsseldorf, Germany Impact: Physics-aware diffusion harmonisation standardises disparate RESOLVE/ZOOMit protocols into fixed-reference ADC DICOM stacks, reinstating clinically meaningful correlations and providing an immediate quantitative endpoint for multi-sequence prostate trials.
16:20		631-03-011. Concomitant-gradient dephasing in asymmetric diffusion encoding: a problem worth fixing despite low b-values and small FOVs! Viktor Olsson, Malwina Molendowska, Derek Jones, Markus Nilsson, Daniel Ennis, Jurgen Schneider, Frederik Testud, Filip Szczepankiewicz Lund University, Lund, Sweden Impact: Concomitant dephasing causes substantial signal errors that are misinterpreted as diffusion effects. Understanding that this can have a large impact on data fidelity, even at low b-values and small FOVs, motivates the use of careful experimental design and 'Maxwell compensation'.
16:22		631-03-012. Whole-brain myelin water diffusion mapping using Short TR Adiabatic Inversion Recovery-prepared Spin Echo EPI (STAIR-SE-EPI) Kwok-Shing Chan, Xingwang Yong, Yohan Jun, Aneri Bhatt, Shohei Fujita, Berkin Bilgic, Susie Huang, Hong Hsi Lee Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, United States of America Impact: We developed a novel myelin water diffusion imaging technique to study myelin sheath integrity that cannot be directly assessed through other microstructure imaging methods, providing a new imaging marker to study demyelination/remyelination in neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases and ageing.
16:24		631-03-013. High-fidelity mesoscale diffusion MRI at NexGen 7T using gSlider with integrated B₁⁺ and T₁ correction Jiazheng Zhou, Xiaozhi Cao, Zheren Zhu, Yurui Qian, Mengze Gao, Oleksandr Khegai, Erica Walker, Alexander Beckett, Yang Yang, Kawin Setsompop, David Feinberg, An Vu, Congyu Liao University Of California, San Francisco (UCSF), United States of America Impact: Mesoscale diffusion MRI at 7T improves microstructural characterization of the human brain and provides a bridge to functional MRI studies.
16:26		631-03-014. MESMERISED with a spiral readout and multiband pTx-pulses for DWI with improved SNR and homogeneity at 7T Marten Veldmann, Luke Edwards, Alard Roebroeck, Tony Stoecker German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE e.V.), Bonn, Germany Impact: Spiral readout and multiband pTx pulses substantially improved MESMERISED DWI at 7T by reducing echo time, increasing SNR efficiency, and enhancing B1 homogeneity, enabling robust whole-brain high-b diffusion imaging at ultra-high field at 1.5 mm isotropic.
16:28		631-03-015. Synergistically employing long and shorter gradient pulses for improved contrast and sensitivity to microstructure Alfredo Ordinola, Magnus Herberthson, Evren Özarslan Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden Impact: This work introduces rPROP, a new diffusion magnetic resonance method that improves upon the traditional Stejskal-Tanner experiment by isolating traces of signal from restricted diffusion at lower gradient amplitudes, enabling advanced microstructural measurements using accessible equipment.
16:30		631-03-016. Finding the sweet spot in spin echo cardiac DTI Isaac Watson, Sam Coveney, May Lwin, Mehak Asad, Christopher Nguyen, Sven Plein, Erica Dall’Armellina, Jurgen Schneider, Irvin Teh University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom Impact: This work presents novel evidence to support informed selection of trigger time for cDTI. This may improve accuracy and precision of cDTI, and lead to more reliable measurements of cardiac microstructure in health and disease.
16:32		631-03-017. Water-fat separated 3D reduced FOV diffusion preparation using a bipolar gradient echo readout Yannik Ott, Sarah McElroy, Raphael Tomi-Tricot, Carolyn Horst, Omar Darwish, Vicky Goh, Radhouene Neji King's College London, London, United Kingdom Impact: This work enables water-fat separated 3D diffusion imaging of the prostate with excellent fat suppression while yielding ADC values in good agreement with reference values.
16:34		631-03-018. Robust Acquisition and Processing for Diffusion Tensor Imaging of the Moving Fetus Nahla Elsaid, Jiachen Zhuo, Kushal Kapse, Kyra Twohy, Nickie Andescavage, Catherine Limperopoulos Children's National Hospital, Washington DC, United States of America Impact: We designed and implemented a robust workflow to acquire fetal diffusion data and process them to produce high-quality diffusion tensor maps suitable for longitudinal/multi-site analyses.