An Evolutionary Framework for Microstructure-Sensitive Generalized Diffusion Gradient Waveforms

Raphaël Truffet*, Jonathan Rafael-Patino, Gabriel Girard, Marco Pizzolato, Christian Barillot, Jean Philippe Thiran, Emmanuel Caruyer

*Corresponding author for this work
2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In diffusion-weighted MRI, general gradient waveforms became of interest for their sensitivity to microstructure features of the brain white matter. However, the design of such waveforms remains an open problem. In this work, we propose a framework for generalized gradient waveform design with optimized sensitivity to selected microstructure features. In particular, we present a rotation-invariant method based on a genetic algorithm to maximize the sensitivity of the signal to the intra-axonal volume fraction. The sensitivity is evaluated by computing a score based on the Fisher information matrix from Monte-Carlo simulations, which offer greater flexibility and realism than conventional analytical models. As proof of concept, we show that the optimized waveforms have higher scores than the conventional pulsed-field gradients experiments. Finally, the proposed framework can be generalized to optimize the waveforms for to any microstructure feature of interest.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationMedical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention – MICCAI 2020 - 23rd International Conference, Proceedings
EditorsAnne L. Martel, Purang Abolmaesumi, Danail Stoyanov, Diana Mateus, Maria A. Zuluaga, S. Kevin Zhou, Daniel Racoceanu, Leo Joskowicz
Number of pages10
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Publication date29 Sept 2020
Pages94-103
ISBN (Print)9783030597122
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 29 Sept 2020
Event23rd International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention, MICCAI 2020 - Lima, Peru
Duration: 4 Oct 20208 Oct 2020

Conference

Conference23rd International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention, MICCAI 2020
Country/TerritoryPeru
CityLima
Period04/10/202008/10/2020
SeriesLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume12262 LNCS
ISSN0302-9743

Keywords

  • Acquisition design
  • Diffusion MRI
  • Fisher information
  • Generalized gradient waveforms
  • Monte-Carlo simulations

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'An Evolutionary Framework for Microstructure-Sensitive Generalized Diffusion Gradient Waveforms'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this