Abstract #2574

Performance of Three Transmitter Calibration Methods for Hyperpolarized Gas MRI in the Presence of B0 and B1 Inhomogeneity

Kun Qing¹, Grady Wilson Miller², John Philip Mugler,¹²

¹Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United States; ²Department of Radiology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United States

A low-flip-angle, phase-based method for calibrating the transmitter voltage for hyperpolarized gas MRI has been presented in previous studies. This work introduces two optimized versions of the phase-based method, and evaluates their performance in the presence of B0 and B1 inhomogeneities compared to that for an amplitude-based method. Results show that the accuracy of all three methods is affected by significant B1 inhomogeneity; for significant B0 inhomogeneity, the amplitude-based method is robust while the phase-based methods are very sensitive, particularly at relatively low flip angles.