Inner-Volume-Imaging Using Three-Dimensional Parallel Excitation

Johannes Thomas Schneider^1,2, Raffi Kalayciyan^1,3, Martin Haas², Wolfgang Ruhm¹, Olaf Doessel³, Juergen Hennig², Peter Ullmann¹

This study presents the first experimental realization of inner-volume-imaging using three-dimensional parallel excitation of arbitrarily shaped regions of interest. By using a temporally optimized 4-fold undersampled 3D k-space trajectory consisting of concentrical shells in combination with an 8-channel transceive RF-array, 3D selective excitation of an arbitrary volume could be achieved in only 5 ms. Featuring such short durations 3D-selective pulses are now on the verge of being used in common imaging sequences and have been successfully applied in first experiments of inner-volume-imaging in phantoms and fruits during this study.