Tensor‐valued diffusion MRI in under 3 minutes: an initial survey of microscopic anisotropy and tissue heterogeneity in intracranial tumors

PURPOSE: To evaluate the feasibility of a 3‐minutes protocol for assessment of the microscopic anisotropy and tissue heterogeneity based on tensor‐valued diffusion MRI in a wide range of intracranial tumors. METHODS: B‐tensor encoding was performed in 42 patients with intracranial tumors (gliomas, meningiomas, adenomas, and metastases). Microscopic anisotropy and tissue heterogeneity were evaluated by estimating the anisotropic kurtosis (MK(A)) and isotropic kurtosis (MK(I)), respectively. An extensive imaging protocol was compared with a 3‐minutes protocol. RESULTS: The fast imaging protocol yielded parameters with characteristics in terms of bias and precision similar to the full protocol. Glioblastomas had lower microscopic anisotropy than meningiomas (MK(A) = 0.29 ± 0.06 vs. 0.45 ± 0.08, P = 0.003). Metastases had higher tissue heterogeneity (MK(I) = 0.57 ± 0.07) than both the glioblastomas (0.44 ± 0.06, P < 0.001) and meningiomas (0.46 ± 0.06, P = 0.03). CONCLUSION: Evaluation of the microscopic anisotropy and tissue heterogeneity in intracranial tumor patients is feasible in clinically relevant times frames.