Impact of an improved combination of signals from array coils in diffusion tensor imaging.

An improved method for the combination of signals from array coils is presented as a way to reduce the influence of the noise floor on the estimation of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) parameters. By an optimized combination of signals from the array channels and complex averaging of measurements, this method leads to a significant reduction of the noise bias. This combination algorithm allows computation of accurate tensors by using the simple two point method and is shown to provide results similar to the ones obtained using the standard signal combination and a nonlinear regression method with noise parameter estimation. In many applications, the use of this combination method would result in a scan time reduction in comparison to the current standard. The effects of the improved combination on diffusion decay curves, fractional anisotropy maps, and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) profiles are demonstrated.