Comparison of Fat Suppression Methods for Functional and Diffusion Studies Using SE EPI at 7T

Dimo Ivanov¹, Markus Streicher¹, Andreas Schfer¹, Robert Turner¹

The increased SNR of ultra-high-field MR scanners allows high resolution functional and diffusion studies to be performed. Because chemical-shift artifact suppression is essential for SE EPI images, we evaluated the performance of different fat suppression techniques. Conventional methods using additional radiofrequency (RF) and gradient pulses provide suboptimal results owing to increased B0 and B1 inhomogeneity at higher fields. They also increase RF power deposition. A recently developed method using different slice-select gradient strengths during the excitation and refocussing pulses was demonstrated to be most robust, and delivered best chemical shift selection.