Hai Zheng1, Tiejun Zhao2, Yongxian Qian3, Claudiu Schirda3, Tamer Ibrahim1, 3, Fernando Boada, 13
1Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States; 2Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Pittsburgh, PA, United States; 3Radiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
T2* weighted fMRI in ultra high field is hampered by susceptibility-induced signal loss near air/tissue interfaces of the brain. We demonstrate a robust RF pulse design, based on parallel transmission (PTX) and 3D tailored RF (3DTRF), that is capable of simultaneously and precisely recovering signal loss at multiple locations. An additional scheme for PTX 3DTRF based on time-interpolation approach, is also presented. All schemes were observed to significantly and reproducibly improve signal recovery across multiple slices in human subjects. Time-interpolation method proved to be more robust at regions with large frequency offsets, albeit at the expense of increased computational demand.