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• Technical Article •
A comparative study on acquisition time and image quality of three different diffusion imaging sequences in the examination of acute cerebral infarction
LI Ting  LU Yuanyuan  LI Chuan  LAI Yinqi  FENG Rujing  LIANG Xiuqun  SUN Zhenmeng  HUANG Yan  DENG Demao 

Cite this article as: LI T, LU Y Y, LI C, et al. A comparative study on acquisition time and image quality of three different diffusion imaging sequences in the examination of acute cerebral infarction[J]. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2026, 17(4): 88-94. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.04.012.


[Abstract] Objective To compare the acquisition time and image quality of three diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) sequences, including single-shot diffusion-weighted imaging (SS-DWI), readout segmentation of long variable echo-trains diffusion-weighted imaging (Resolve-DWI), and Resolve-DWI with simultaneous multi-slice (SMS-Resolve-DWI), in MRI examinations of acute cerebral infarction, with the aimof providing evidence for optimizing clinical scanning protocols.Materials and Methods Eighty-four patients with acute cerebral infarction treated at our hospital from July 2023 to December 2024 were retrospectively enrolled. Each patient underwent sequential scanning with conventional SS-DWI, Resolve-DWI, and SMS-Resolve-DWI. Two senior radiologists independently and blindly evaluated the image quality using a 5-point Likert scale. Objective metrics included signal intensity (SI), apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast ratio (CR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and SNR efficiency. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 26.0. The normality of continuous variables was assessed by the Shapiro-Wilk test. Data with normal distributions were expressed as mean ± standard deviation, and those without were represented as median (interquartile range). One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) or the Kruskal-Wallis H test was used for group comparisons. Interobserver agreement was assessed with weighted Kappa statistics.Results The scan times were 1 min 57 s for SS-DWI, 5 min 21 s for Resolve-DWI, and 3 min 16 s for SMS-Resolve-DWI. Subjective scoring demonstrated good to excellent inter-rater agreement (Kappa values 0.630 to 0.982). In terms of image quality scores, both SMS-Resolve-DWI and Resolve-DWI showed significantly higher scores than SS-DWI (P < 0.05), with no significant difference between the two advanced sequences (median Likert score of both was 4). Regarding objective metrics, there were no significant differences in ADC values among the three sequences (P > 0.05). Compared to SS-DWI, both Resolve-DWI and SMS-Resolve-DWI showed higher SI (in both lesion and contralateral brain tissue), SNR, and CNR (P < 0.001), with no significant difference between the two advanced sequences (P > 0.05). The CR of SS-DWI was higher than that of SMS-Resolve-DWI (P = 0.013). The SNR efficiency of SS-DWI and SMS-Resolve-DWI was superior to that of Resolve-DWI (P < 0.001), with no significant difference between SS-DWI and SMS-Resolve-DWI (P > 0.05).Conclusions SMS-Resolve-DWI combines the scanning efficiency of SS-DWI with the image quality of Resolve-DWI, while maintaining the accuracy of ADC quantification. It can be recommended as the preferred MRI protocol for acute cerebral infarction examination.
[Keywords] acute cerebral infarction；magnetic resonance imaging；diffusion-weighted imaging；readout segmentation of long variable echo-trains；simultaneous multi-slice；image quality

LI Ting1   LU Yuanyuan1   LI Chuan1*   LAI Yinqi1   FENG Rujing1   LIANG Xiuqun1   SUN Zhenmeng2   HUANG Yan3   DENG Demao1  

1 Department of Radiology, the People's Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Guangxi Academy of Medical Sciences, Nanning 530021, China

2 MR Customer Application, Siemens Healthineers Digital Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd, Guangzhou Branch, Guangzhou 510000, China

3 Department of Radiology, the First People's Hospital of Hechi City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Hechi 546300, China

Corresponding author: LI C, E-mail: 49203437@qq.com

Conflicts of interest   None.

Received  2025-10-28
Accepted  2026-03-12
DOI: 10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.04.012
Cite this article as: LI T, LU Y Y, LI C, et al. A comparative study on acquisition time and image quality of three different diffusion imaging sequences in the examination of acute cerebral infarction[J]. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2026, 17(4): 88-94. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.04.012.

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