Effects of Diffusion Time and Echo Time Changes of Diffusion MRI on Clinical Brain Neoplasm Diagnosis

In this exhibit, we outline the effect of TE shortening on the diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in clinical practice and the associated shortening of diffusion time on recent clinical MRI scanner for brain neoplasms diagnosis. In general, shortening the diffusion time reduces the contrast of lesions that show an abnormally high signal on DWI, and the apparent diffusion coefficient values also changes toward a larger value, which may lead the radiologist to err in differential diagnosis or grading of the neoplastic lesions. Therefore, it is important for radiologists to be aware of these effects when diagnosing brain neoplasms.