Ryan K. Robison1,
2, Allen T. Newton2, 3
1Philips
Healthcare, Nashville, TN, United States; 2Vanderbilt University
Institute of Imaging Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United
States; 3Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt,
Nashville, TN, United States
Readout-segmented EPI is applied herein to functional MRI to reduce the effects of shot-to-shot signal variations. At ultra high field, geometric distortion may compromise the use of single-shot EPI for functional studies, particularly for high spatial resolution. Interleaved multi-shot EPI has been investigated as an alternative but is strongly affected by shot-to-shot signal variations. Improvement in temporal SNR is shown for readout-segmented EPI as compared to interleaved multi-shot EPI. Improved geometric distortion is also shown for readout-segmented EPI as compared to single-shot EPI.