{"doi":"10.1002/nbm.5261","title":"Single‐shot multi‐<i>b</i>‐value (SSMb) diffusion‐weighted MRI using spin echo and stimulated echoes with variable flip angles","abstract":"Abstract Conventional diffusion‐weighted imaging (DWI) sequences employing a spin echo or stimulated echo sensitize diffusion with a specific b ‐value at a fixed diffusion direction and diffusion time (Δ). To compute apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and other diffusion parameters, the sequence needs to be repeated multiple times by varying the b ‐value and/or gradient direction. In this study, we developed a single‐shot multi‐ b ‐value (SSMb) diffusion MRI technique, which combines a spin echo and a train of stimulated echoes produced with variable flip angles. The method involves a pair of 90° radio frequency (RF) pulses that straddle a diffusion gradient lobe ( G D ), to rephase the magnetization in the transverse plane, producing a diffusion‐weighted spin echo acquired by the first echo‐planar imaging (EPI) readout train. The magnetization stored along the longitudinal axis is successively re‐excited by a series of n variable‐flip‐angle pulses, each followed by a diffusion gradient lobe G D and a subsequent EPI readout train to sample n stimulated‐echo signals. As such, ( n + 1) diffusion‐weighted images, each with a distinct b ‐value, are acquired in a single shot. The SSMb sequence was demonstrated on a diffusion phantom and healthy human brain to produce diffusion‐weighted images, which were quantitative analyzed using a mono‐exponential model. In the phantom experiment, SSMb provided similar ADC values to those from a commercial spin‐echo EPI (SE‐EPI) sequence ( r = 0.999). In the human brain experiment, SSMb enabled a fourfold scan time reduction and yielded slightly lower ADC values (0.83 ± 0.26 μm 2 /ms) than SE‐EPI (0.88 ± 0.29 μm 2 /ms) in all voxels excluding cerebrospinal fluid, likely due to the influence of varying diffusion times. The feasibility of using SSMb to acquire multiple images in a single shot for intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) analysis was also demonstrated. In conclusion, despite a relatively low signal‐to‐noise ratio, the proposed SSMb technique can substantially increase the data acquisition efficiency in DWI studies.","journal":"NMR in Biomedicine","year":2024,"id":469252,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":3,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9603,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2024-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":434363,"name":"Kaibao Sun","orcid":"0000-0001-6923-5914","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":443899,"name":"Qingfei Luo","orcid":"0000-0002-1078-799X","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":434365,"name":"Xiaohong Joe Zhou","orcid":"0000-0003-0793-4925","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":741128,"name":"Guangyu Dan","orcid":"0000-0003-0427-5661","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":51,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:05:28.027781Z","pmid":"39308034","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}