Feasibility of diffusion imaging using SMS-spiral acquisition with corrections on gradient waveform and field inhomogeneities

We propose a short-TE signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) enhanced diffusion imaging method using simultaneous multi-slice (SMS) accelerated spiral acquisition. The correction of field inhomogeneity and gradient waveforms are introduced in the reconstruction without any assistance of external hardware (e.g. field camera). Results showing the feasibility of this method on both phantom and human subjects, and the corrections of B0 and gradient waveforms are essential to improve the image quality.