Image quality assessment of multi-shot echo-planar diffusion weighted imaging for in vivo breast cancer screening

Motivation: High b-value multi-shot echo-planar imaging (MS-EPI) diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) offers reduced distortion, high resolution, and high contrast that is promising for breast cancer screening. Improvements to reconstruction robustness are enabling use of higher b-values and higher shot counts. Goal(s): To assess breast MS-EPI DWI image quality versus number of shots and b-value across many exams. Approach: Two-shot (clinical) and six-shot (research) MS-EPI DWI sequences with different b-values will be used to screen approximately 200 women at high risk for breast cancer. Three raters will evaluate image artifact severity. Average ratings will be calculated for each sequence/b-value. Impact: Multi-shot DWI EPI can offer efficient, non-contrast enhanced breast cancer screening, but may suffer from artifacts that make images unusable. Evaluating the robustness of multi-shot DWI EPI will direct future efforts to translate these sequences for widespread clinical use.