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Abstract #3471

Localizing the Excitation to Reduce Scan Time Using Nonlinear Gradient Fields

Emre Kopanoglu1, 2, Ugur Yilmaz1, 2, Burak Akin2, Volkan Acikel1, 2, Ergin Atalar1, 2

1Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey; 2UMRAM, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey

For numerous applications, the region of interest is merely a portion of the imaged volume. Conventional one-dimensional RF pulses have relatively low SAR, but they cannot excite local regions and therefore causes long scan times. Although small volumes can be excited using multi-dimensional excitation pulses, such pulses are long and/or have relatively high SAR. It is shown that, using gradient fields with nonlinear variation in space, excitation regions can be confined in three dimensions without increasing pulse duration and SAR. In this abstract we show that a 60% decrease in required phase-encoding steps is obtained while imaging the occipital lobe of the brain. Initial in-vivo results are presented.

Abstract PDF E-Poster Video

Keywords

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