Intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion-weighted imaging of solitary pulmonary lesions: initial study with gradient-and-spin echo (GRASE)

Intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion-weighted imaging (IVIM) could obtain parameters of pure water molecule diffusion and microcirculatory perfusion-related diffusion and more accurately reflects the complexity of the microstructure of the tumor tissues. Gradient-and-spin echo (GRASE), incorporating the gradient echo and spin echo techniques, is a fast-imaging sequence with potential for improved IVIM examinations. The aim of the study was to evaluate the feasibility and image quality of the GRASE-IVIM sequence in evaluating solitary pulmonary lesions (SPLs) by comparing with the EPI-IVIM and TSE-IVIM sequences. Our data showed GRASE-IVIM sequence could be a fast and stable alternative technique to evaluate the SPLs.