System and method for distortion and motion artifact-free diffusion imaging using single-shot diffusion-prepared turbo-spin-echo sequence with spiral-ring readouts and magnitude stabilizers

A computerized system for acquiring magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data, the system comprising:

• a computer including a processor and computer memory connected to a magnetic gradient source to implement software program steps in a diffusion preparation software component and a spiral ring echo readout software component, wherein the computer implements a computerized method comprising:
• implementing the diffusion preparation software component by:
• applying at least a first diffusion gradient and a last diffusion gradient along a selected direction;
• and
• applying a magnitude stabilizer gradient, along said selected direction, after the last diffusion gradient;
• implementing the spiral ring echo readout software component by:
• applying a rephasing gradient along said selected direction after a refocusing RF pulse;
• applying a dephasing gradient along said selected direction prior to a subsequent refocusing RF pulse;
• and
• acquiring spiral ring echo readout data between the refocusing RF pulse and the subsequent refocusing RF pulse;
• storing the spiral ring echo readout data in k-space encoding
• computing apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps from the spiral ring echo readout data in k-space format.