Fundamentals of diffusion MRI physics. (March 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kiselev, Valerij G.
• Other Names: Vermathen Peter guestEditor.
• Is Part Of: NMR in biomedicine. Volume 30:Number 3(2017:Mar.)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2017-03
• Subjects: Nuclear magnetic resonance -- Periodicals; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy -- Periodicals; 574
• DOI: 10.1002/nbm.3602
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0952-3480

Abstract

Abstract : Diffusion MRI is commonly considered the "engine" for probing the cellular structure of living biological tissues. The difficulty of this task is threefold. First, in structurally heterogeneous media, diffusion is related to structure in quite a complicated way. The challenge of finding diffusion metrics for a given structure is equivalent to other problems in physics that have been known for over a century. Second, in most cases the MRI signal is related to diffusion in an indirect way dependent on the measurement technique used. Third, finding the cellular structure given the MRI signal is an ill‐posed inverse problem. This paper reviews well‐established knowledge that forms the basis for responding to the first two challenges. The inverse problem is briefly discussed and the reader is warned about a number of pitfalls on the way. Abstract : Diffusion MRI can probe the tissue microstructure in vivo; however, it is extremely difficult to decipher the microstructural information imprinted in measured data. This review gives an overview of diffusion metrics, ways to measure them, and available results relating diffusion metrics to tissue microstructure. The discussion is structured around a bird's‐eye view of the various measurement domains.