Strong background signals leading to multiple phase wraps may hamper accurate quantification of magnetic tissue susceptibility (QSM) especially at high field strengths using long echo times to achieve a high spatial sampling. Here we show how different coil-combination, automated tissue masking and background removal techniques can be used to improve QSM quality. Performance was evaluated with regard to iron quantification in subcortical and cortical areas in the same subjects. We found a substantial improvement in accuracy and precision of QSM in high-field applications at long echo times through the use of ASPIRE and removal of areas with excessive phase evolution.
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