The eddy current distortion in the multiband diffusion images: diagnosis and correction

Abstract

The diffusion weighted images acquired with the multiband sequence or the Lifespan protocols shows a type of slice distortion artifact. We find that this artifact is caused by the eddy currents, which can be induced by the diffusion gradient associated with either current DW image or the previous DW images. The artifact can be corrected by further tuning the compensation circuit in the MR hardware, or by a correction algorithm which includes the diffusion gradients from the current and previous DW images.