Dissecting brain grey and white matter microstructure: a novel clinical diffusion MRI protocol

Abstract

Soma and Neurite Density Image (SANDI) is an advanced diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) signal model devised to probe in vivo microstructural information from both grey and white matter. However, this model requires multi-shell acquisitions that include b-values that are at least 6 times higher than those used in clinical practice. Here we present a 10-minute acquisition protocol that enables to acquire the necessary images for SANDI modelling on a clinical 3T scanner. We demonstrate the feasibility and assess the repeatability and reproducibility of our approach by computing microstructural metrics of SANDI and other state-of-the-art models on five healthy subjects and we present its potential clinical impact on five subjects affected by multiple sclerosis with relapsing-remitting course. Our results suggest that SANDI is a repeatable, reproducible, feasible, and practical method to characterize both white and grey matter tissues in both the healthy brain and in neurological diseases.