# Synthesized b0 for diffusion distortion correction (Synb0-DisCo)

Kurt G. Schilling, Justin Blaber, Yuankai Huo, Allen Newton, Colin Hansen, Vishwesh Nath, Andrea T. Shafer, Owen Williams, Susan M. Resnick, Baxter Rogers, Adam W. Anderson, Bennett A. Landman

Magnetic Resonance Imaging · 2019 · Article

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mri.2019.05.008

## Summary

Synb0-DisCo uses a structural MRI scan to synthesize an undistorted diffusion reference image. This enables susceptibility-distortion correction for datasets lacking reverse phase-encoded scans, improving anatomical alignment and reducing variation in diffusion modeling in the evaluated data.

## Study overview

Many historical or abbreviated diffusion MRI protocols lack the reversed phase-encoding images needed for standard susceptibility correction. Synb0-DisCo addresses this gap by using deep learning to synthesize a non-diffusion-weighted image from a structural scan, providing an undistorted anatomical target for TOPUP-based processing. The evaluated pipeline improved agreement with structural geometry and reduced variation in diffusion-derived measurements, with performance comparable to paired phase-encoding references in the study. The method makes additional datasets usable, but the synthesized reference is a model prediction rather than an acquired opposite-encoding image. Its reliability therefore depends on synthesis quality and the similarity of new data to the evaluated conditions.

## Findings / topics

- A structural image was used to synthesize an undistorted b0-like reference.
- Correction improved geometric correspondence with anatomical images and reduced diffusion-model variation.
- The approach enabled TOPUP-like correction without an acquired reversed phase-encoding scan.

## Resources

- [Original work](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mri.2019.05.008)
- [Open full text](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6834894/)

Lab page: https://www.microstructure-connectivity-lab.com/publications/synb0-disco/

This is a research summary, not the full article.