Inter-vendor and inter-observer reliability of diffusion tensor imaging in the musculoskeletal system: a multiscanner MR study

Insights into Imaging

Table 1 DTI acquisition parameters

	GE	Philips	Siemens
DTI parameters (Thigh)
Coil	16 channels	32 channels	18 channels
Directions	12	15	12
b-value (s/mm²)	400	400	400
TR (ms)	7350	7500	7500
TE (ms)	Minimum	72	83.0
Matrix	128 × 128	128 × 128	128 × 128
Parallel factor	2 (asset)	2 (sense)	2 (grappa)
Voxel size (mm)	3.1 × 3.1 × 4.0	3.03 × 2.97 × 4.0	3.1 × 3.1 × 4.0
Acquisition time (minutes:seconds)	3.18	4.07	3.32
DTI parameters (leg)
Coil	16 channels	32 channels	18 channels
Directions	12	12	12
b-value (s/mm²)	400	400	400
TR (ms)	7950	7500	7500
TE (ms)	Minimum	66	83
Matrix	128 × 128	128 × 128	128 × 128
Parallel factor	2 (asset)	2 (sense)	2 (grappa)
Voxel size (mm)	2.3 × 2.3 × 4.0	2.3 × 2.3 × 4.0	2.3 × 2.3 × 4.0
Acquisition time (minutes:seconds)	3.35	4.07	3.32
DTI parameters (arm)
Coil	16 channels	8 channels	18 channels
Directions	12	12	12
b-value (s/mm²)	400.0	400	400
TR (ms)	8600	7837	7900
TE (ms)	Minimum	79	83
Matrix	122 × 122	122 × 122	122 × 122
Parallel factor	2 (asset)	2 (sense)	2 (grappa)
Voxel size (mm)	1.6 × 1.6 × 4.0	1.6 × 1.6 × 4.0	1.6 × 1.6 × 4.0
Acquisition time (minutes: seconds)	3.52	4.18	3.43