An ADC map shows parametric images containing the apparent diffusion coefficients of diffusion weighted images. The term apparent refers to the dependence of these coefficients on factors other than prior molecular mobility. Also called diffusion map.

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This artifact is uncommon with modern MRI equipment, but possible. It can occur if there are bad memory locations or bad connectors in the parallel data bus of the computer.

This artifact is the result of a hardware failure and must be addressed by a service representative.

(ADC) A diffusion coefficient to differentiate T2 shine through effects or artifacts from real ischemic lesions. In the human brain, water diffusion is a three-dimensional process that is not truly random because the diffusional motion of water is impeded by natural barriers. These barriers are cell membranes, myelin sheaths, white matter fiber tracts, and protein molecules.
The apparent water diffusion coefficients can be calculated by acquiring two or more images with a different gradient duration and amplitude (b-values). The contrast in the ADC map depends on the spatially distributed diffusion coefficient of the acquired tissues and does not contain T1 and T2* values.
The increased sensitivity of diffusion-weighted MRI in detecting acute ischemia is thought to be the result of the water shift intracellularly restricting motion of water protons (cytotoxic edema), whereas the conventional T2 weighted images show signal alteration mostly as a result of vasogenic edema.
The reduced ADC value also could be the result of decreased temperature in the nonperfused tissues, loss of brain pulsations leading to a decrease in apparent proton motion, increased tissue osmolality associated with ischemia, or a combination of these factors. The lower ADC measurements seen with early ischemia, have not been fully established, however, a lower apparent ADC is a sensitive indicator of early ischemic brain at a stage when ischemic tissue remains potentially salvageable.

See also Diffusion Weighted Imaging and Diffusion Tensor Tractography.

(ADC) A system that receives analog input data and produces digital values at its output. Used by the MRI scanner to convert the received signal into a format more compatible with the computer systems.

Data clipping artifacts give images a washed-out, non-uniform appearance. If the receiver gain increase, so that the signal level is larger than the maximum ADC value, the reconstructed image brightness was scaled to compensate this. The overall intensity loss as well as the extensive signal is reconstructed outside of the object. This effect is called 'clipping' because on a plot of signal amplitude vs. time, it looks like the top and bottom of the echo has been 'clipped off' with scissors.

See Radio Frequency Overflow Artifact.