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Abstract #3994

Diffusion Weighted Imaging at 7T with STEAM-EPI and GRAPPA

Bibek Dhital1, Robert Turner1

1Neurophysics, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Saxony, Germany


Standard diffusion sequences require long time to play diffusion gradients, especially for high b-values. At 7T,this compromises higher intrinsic SNR with shorter T2 relaxation. We used STEAM sequence for slice localization and EPI with parallel imaging to acquire diffusion weighted images. While STEAM-EPI loses half the signal, it still benefits from a long T1 of the tissue to achieve high b-values: parallel imaging shortens EPI echo train leading to reduced distortions. STEAM-EPI is thus, the method of choice for 7 Tesla.