DW MRI: Techniques, Protocols and Post-processing Aspects

Abstract

Diffusion is the process of random motion of water molecules in a free medium. For human tissues, water mobility can be assessed in the intracellular, extracellular and intravascular spaces. All media have a different degree of structure and thus pose a variant level of difficulty in water mobility that is called “diffusivity”. A sequence sensitized to microscopic water mobility by means of strong gradient pulses can be utilized to provide insights in the complexity of the environment which in turn can reveal information related to tissue microarchitecture.