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Abstract #4063

Effects of Slice Orientation and Parallel Acquisition on EPI-Based PASL Perfusion Imaging in Areas with Susceptibility Artifact

Shih Yu Cheng1, Yuan Yu Hsu2, Wan Chun Kuan3, Mei Yu Yeh1, Kun Eng Lim2, Ho Ling Liu1,4

1Medical imaging and Radiological Sciences, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; 2Medical Imaging, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; 3Biomedical Engineering and Environmental Sciences, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan; 4Division of Medical Imaging and Intervention, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan


ASL MRI using gradient-echo EPI suffers from susceptibility artifact in areas near air/tissue interfaces. Previous fMRI studies investigated the optimal slice tilt to reduce the signal dropout in those areas. Besides, parallel imaging can help by having shorter echo trains which reduces intra-voxel dephasing. This study focused on the orbitofrontal cortex region and evaluates the effects of slice angle combined with parallel imaging on ASL image quality. The results indicated that using parallel imaging could reduce the signal dropout caused by dephasing effect of susceptibility related field gradient. Parallel imaging is also preferable due to less subject to slice orientation.