3D Slab Selective AFI Utilizing a Thin Slab Approach

Christopher Thomas Sica¹, Christopher M. Collins¹

AFI is an established B1+ mapping technique that can suffer from slice profile effects, and is thus typically implemented with 3D non-selective RF pulses, necessitating 3D encoding of a large volume and long scan duration. This work presents a 3D slab-selective AFI technique with a significant reduction in scan time. A thin slab is excited and a small number of slices are encoded along the slab select axis. Slices within the central portion of the slab are kept and outlying slices are discarded. This approach was investigated using simulation and experiment in a phantom. Agreement between non-selective and slab-selective AFI is very good.