Gary Chiaray Lee1, Patrick Goodwill1, Kevin Phuong2, Brian Hargreaves3, Ben Inglis4, Steven Conolly1,2
1Berkeley/UCSF Joint Bioengineering Gradute Group, Berkeley, CA, USA; 2Bioengineering, UC Berkeley, USA; 3Radiology, Stanford University, USA; 4Henry Wheeler, Jr. Brain Imaging Center, UC Berkeley, USA
Robust frequency selective fat saturation techniques require uniform homogeneity of the B0 field to correctly saturate the fat signal in MRI. Mismatched susceptibility boundaries in the body, such as those near the skin, can create steep field gradients that cannot be reliably shimmed. Here we develop tissue susceptibility matched pyrolytic graphite foams to reduce field gradients to less than 1 ppm in order to maintain a pristine field for proper frequency selective fat suppression for contrast-enhanced breast MRI. We also measure heating and conductivities to ensure clinical safety.