Truly reproducible uniform estimation of the ADC with multi‐b diffusion data— Application in prostate diffusion imaging

PURPOSE: The ADC is a well-established parameter for clinical diagnostic applications, but lacks reproducibility because it is also influenced by the choice diffusion weighting level. A framework is evaluated that is based on multi-b measurement over a wider range of diffusion-weighting levels and higher order tissue diffusion modeling with retrospective, fully reproducible ADC calculation. METHODS: Averaging effect from curve fitting for various model functions at 20 linearly spaced b-values was determined by means of simulations and theoretical calculations. Simulation and patient multi-b image data were used to compare the new approach for diffusion-weighted image and ADC map reconstruction with and without Rician bias correction to an active clinical trial protocol probing three non-zero b-values. RESULTS: Averaging effect at a certain b-value varies for model function and maximum b-value used. Images and ADC maps from the novel procedure are on-par with the clinical protocol. Higher order modeling and Rician bias correction is feasible, but comes at the cost of longer computation times. CONCLUSIONS: Application of the new framework makes higher order modeling more feasible in a clinical setting while still providing patient images and reproducible ADC maps of adequate quality.