Signal loss near metallic ablation probes can prevent quality MR thermometry guidance of treatment. Previously we proposed an orientation-independent multi-echo Z-shimmed sequence that could recover the lost signal and improve temperature precision near the probe. However, this method was not feasible for online implementation due to the need to acquire high resolution off-resonance maps around the ablator followed by a computationally-intensive optimization. Here we present an MR imaging simulator that calculates images near metallic ablation probes and successfully use it for offline optimization of the multi-echo Z-shimmed pulse sequence.
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