Inherent correction of motion-induced phase errors in multishot spiral diffusion-weighted imaging

Multishot spiral imaging is a promising alternative to echo-planar imaging for high-resolution diffusion-weighted imaging and diffusion tensor imaging. However, subject motion in the presence of diffusion-weighting gradients causes phase inconsistencies among different shots, resulting in signal loss and aliasing artifacts in the reconstructed images. Such artifacts can be reduced using a variable-density spiral trajectory or a navigator echo, however at the cost of a longer scan time. Here, a novel iterative phase correction method is proposed to inherently correct for the motion-induced phase errors without requiring any additional scan time. In this initial study, numerical simulations and in vivo experiments are performed to demonstrate that the proposed method can effectively and efficiently correct for spatially linear phase errors caused by rigid-body motion in multishot spiral diffusion-weighted imaging of the human brain. Magn Reson Med, 2012. (c) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.