Rapid measurement of intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) derived perfusion fraction for clinical magnetic resonance imaging

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the reliability of intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) model derived parameters D and f and their dependence on b value distributions with a rapid three b value acquisition protocol.

Materials and methods: Diffusion models for brain, kidney, and liver were assessed for bias, error, and reproducibility for the estimated IVIM parameters using b values 0 and 1000, and a b value between 200 and 900, at signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) 40, 55, and 80. Relative errors were used to estimate optimal b value distributions for each tissue scenario. Sixteen volunteers underwent brain DW-MRI, for which bias and coefficient of variation were determined in the grey matter.

Results: Bias had a large influence in the estimation of D and f for the low-perfused brain model, particularly at lower b values, with the same trends being confirmed by in vivo imaging. Significant differences were demonstrated in vivo for estimation of D (P = 0.029) and f (P < 0.001) with [300,1000] and [500,1000] distributions. The effect of bias was considerably lower for the high-perfused models. The optimal b value distributions were estimated to be brain_500,1000, kidney_300,1000, and liver_200,1000.

Conclusion: IVIM parameters can be estimated using a rapid DW-MRI protocol, where the optimal b value distribution depends on tissue characteristics and compromise between bias and variability.