Publication
Title
Improved $B_{0}$ field map estimation for high field EPI
Author
Abstract
 Echo planar imaging (EPI) is an ultrafast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique that allows one to acquire a 2D image in about 100 ms. Unfortunately, the standard EPI images suffer from substantial geometric distortions, mainly originating from susceptibility differences in adjacent tissues. To reduce EPI distortions, correction methods based on a field map, which is a map of the off-resonance frequencies, have been developed. In this work, a nonlinear least squares estimator is used to optimize the estimation of the field map of the B0 field. The model of the EPI and reference data includes parameters for the phase evolution, the complex magnitude, the relaxation of the MRI signal and the EPI-specific phase difference between odd and even echoes, and from these parameters, additional corrections might be computed. The reference data required to estimate the field map can be acquired with a modified EPI-sequence. The proposed method is tested on simulated as well as experimental data and proves to be significantly more robust against noise, compared to the previously suggested method.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Magnetic resonance imaging. - New York
Publication
New York : 2010
ISSN
0730-725X
Volume/pages
28:3(2010), p. 441-450
ISI
000276042400017
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
UAntwerpen
 Faculty/Department Research group Publication type Subject Affiliation Publications with a UAntwerp address