TY - JOUR
T1 - Mitigating transmit B 1 inhomogeneity in the liver at 7T using multi-spoke parallel transmit RF pulse design
AU - Wu, Xiaoping
AU - Schmitter, Sebastian
AU - Auerbach, Edward J
AU - Uğurbil, Kâmil
AU - Van de Moortele, Pierre-François
PY - 2014/2
Y1 - 2014/2
N2 - In this work, the use of multi-spoke slice-selective parallel transmit (pTX) RF pulse was explored to address B 1+ inhomogeneity in the largest transverse section of the liver at 7T. The impact of the number of spokes was specifically investigated, considering RF pulses consisting of 2, 3 and 4 spokes, as well as single-spoke RF pulses corresponding to static B 1 shimming. Healthy volunteers were imaged on a whole body MR scanner equipped with an eight-channel transmit system. A robust and fast transmit B 1 (B 1+) estimation method was employed to obtain the eight-channel B 1+ maps within a single breath hold. Gradient echo (GRE) images of the liver were acquired using the four different RF pulses and the results were compared. The use of static B 1 shimming (i.e., 1-spoke RF pulse) resulted in partial improvement but significant signal dropouts were still observed in the target region. By comparison, the use of multi-spoke pTX RF pulse design gave rise to much improved excitation homogeneity without signal dropouts. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of multi-spoke pTX RF pulse design in B 1+ homogenization for liver magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 7T. The current findings at 7T may have implications for body imaging applications in clinical settings at 3T where B 1+ inhomogeneities are also known for degrading image quality in the torso.
AB - In this work, the use of multi-spoke slice-selective parallel transmit (pTX) RF pulse was explored to address B 1+ inhomogeneity in the largest transverse section of the liver at 7T. The impact of the number of spokes was specifically investigated, considering RF pulses consisting of 2, 3 and 4 spokes, as well as single-spoke RF pulses corresponding to static B 1 shimming. Healthy volunteers were imaged on a whole body MR scanner equipped with an eight-channel transmit system. A robust and fast transmit B 1 (B 1+) estimation method was employed to obtain the eight-channel B 1+ maps within a single breath hold. Gradient echo (GRE) images of the liver were acquired using the four different RF pulses and the results were compared. The use of static B 1 shimming (i.e., 1-spoke RF pulse) resulted in partial improvement but significant signal dropouts were still observed in the target region. By comparison, the use of multi-spoke pTX RF pulse design gave rise to much improved excitation homogeneity without signal dropouts. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of multi-spoke pTX RF pulse design in B 1+ homogenization for liver magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 7T. The current findings at 7T may have implications for body imaging applications in clinical settings at 3T where B 1+ inhomogeneities are also known for degrading image quality in the torso.
U2 - 10.3978/j.issn.2223-4292.2014.02.06
DO - 10.3978/j.issn.2223-4292.2014.02.06
M3 - Article
C2 - 24649429
SN - 2223-4292
VL - 4
SP - 4
EP - 10
JO - Quantitative Imaging in Medicine and Surgery
JF - Quantitative Imaging in Medicine and Surgery
IS - 1
ER -