On Intra-Voxel Dephasing in Liver Diffusion-Weighted Imaging

Motion is a major source of artifacts in liver diffusion-weighted (DW) imaging leading to severe signal loss. Physical information about motion is encoded in the phase of DW images based on a pulsed gradient spin-echo (PGSE) sequence. The present work proposes a methodology to estimate a phase-predicted attenuation (PPA) which correlates with the magnitude variation of DW images in motion-controlled phantom experiments and in vivo measurements. These phase-based predictions allow to isolate motion-related magnitude attenuation for further investigation of undesired signal loss effects and offer potential for refining algorithms to reduce magnitude loss in DW imaging of the liver.