Extrapolation-Based References Improve Motion and Eddy-Current Correction of High B-Value DWI Data: Application in Parkinson's Disease Dementia

Purpose Conventional motion and eddy-current correction, where each diffusion-weighted volume is registered to a non diffusion-weighted reference, suffers from poor accuracy for high b-value data. An alternative approach is to extrapolate reference volumes from low b-value data. We aim to compare the performance of conventional and extrapolation-based correction of diffusional kurtosis imaging (DKI) data, and to demonstrate the impact of the correction approach on group comparison studies. Methods DKI was performed in patients with Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD), and healthy age-matched controls, using b-values of up to 2750 s/mm(2). The accuracy of conventional and extrapolation-based correction methods was investigated. Parameters from DTI and DKI were compared between patients and controls in the cingulum and the anterior thalamic projection tract. Results Conventional correction resulted in systematic registration errors for high b-value data. The extrapolation-based methods did not exhibit such errors, yielding more accurate tractography and up to 50% lower standard deviation in DKI metrics. Statistically significant differences were found between patients and controls when using the extrapolation-based motion correction that were not detected when using the conventional method. Conclusion We recommend that conventional motion and eddy-current correction should be abandoned for high b-value data in favour of more accurate methods using extrapolation-based references.