Diffusion MRI User Guide

The volume is providing the necessary knowledge to undertake clinical diffusion MRI, to evaluate its current status and potential for healthcare, and to foresee upcoming developments. In the landscape of medical imaging, few techniques have made as profound an impact as diffusion MRI. Initially an intriguing phenomenon, diffusion MRI has emerged as a cornerstone of modern clinical imaging, transforming our understanding of tissue microstructure and function, particularly in the realm of neuroscience and oncology. Indeed, diffusion MRI, by providing images showing the diffusive motion of molecules, especially water, has been a game changer, revealing the underlying structure of biological tissues at a microscopic scale. Diffusion imaging first revolutionized the management of acute cerebral ischemia by allowing diagnosis at an acute stage when therapies can still work, saving the outcomes of many patients. Diffusion MRI quickly expanded to help managing many neurological disorders, then generalized to the whole body, with broad applications in both clinical and research settings, providing insights into tissue integrity, structural and functional abnormalities from the hindered diffusive movement of water molecules in tissues. A growing field of application is in the domain of oncology, for detecting and classifying cancer lesions, as well as monitoring treatment response at an early stage. The second major impact of diffusion imaging concerns the wiring of the brain (Diffusion Tensor Imaging, DTI), allowing to obtain from the anisotropic movement of water molecules in the brain white matter images in 3 dimensions of the brain connections making up the Connectome. DTI has opened up new avenues of clinical diagnosis and research to investigate brain diseases, neurogenesis and aging, with a rapidly extending field of application in psychiatry, revealing how mental illnesses could be linked to defaults in brain connectivity.

In summary, over the last 40 years diffusion MRI has become a pilar of modern medical imaging, used in countless research laboratories and clinical hospital departments around the world where it plays a key role in medical research and clinical fields. This volume is thus very timely.