Does simultaneous multi-slice technique affect quantitative measurements of diffusion-weighted MR imaging in hepatocellular carcinoma?

Although diffusion weighted MR imaging is of great importance in the diagnosis and evaluation of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), it is limited by long acquisition times. Simultaneous multi-slice (SMS) technique can reduce scan time and has been proved to be feasible in liver imaging. Our study included twenty patients with HCC, and acquired conventional and SMS-accelerated diffusion data with different models (DWI, DKI and IVIM). By analyzing quantitative parametric maps, we found SMS technique did not affect the quantitative measurements of HCC. However, the difference of mean kurtosis between conventional and SMS-accelerated DKI in liver parenchyma should be noted.