Comparison of Analytical Values in Diffusion Kurtosis Imaging among Different MRI Units.

Diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) is a method of analyzing restricted diffusion. Mean kurtosis (MK) is obtained from DKI. It is not known how different MRI scanners and coil systems will change MK when the same imaging parameters are used. The purpose of this study is to identify tendencies in MK when using various MRI scanners and coil systems. A total of 27 healthy volunteers were enrolled in this study. DKI was performed on the brain for each volunteer on five MRI scanner/coil system combinations using the same scan parameters. MK of 10 anatomical areas of the brain were compared, and the signal-noise ratios (SNRs) of b-2000 s/mm(2) images were measured in identical areas. There were no significant differences among MKs from multi transmit (MT) MRI systems, but MK was significantly lower on the single transmit MRI system because of pepper artifact caused by low SNR. In conclusion, we found no significant differences in MK among MT systems, and MK was significantly lower without MT.