Abstract #0173

Dynamic & Inherent B0 Correction for DTI using Stimulated Echo Spiral Imaging

Alexandru Vlad Avram^{1, 2}, Trong-Kha Truong², Arnaud Guidon^{1, 2}, Chunlei Liu², Allen W. Song²

¹Biomedical Engineering Department, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; ²Brain Imaging & Analysis Center, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

We present a novel stimulated echo (STE) based Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) spiral sequence with inherent capability to correct for off-resonance effects (blurring) due to spatial and temporal variations in the main field B0 (e.g. due to tissue susceptibility, eddy currents, system instabilities, etc). Combined with the self-navigated interleaved spiral acquisition (SNAILS) this technique provides dynamic and non-linear corrections for phase errors (e.g. due to motion) and off-resonance effects, which may find broad applications in diffusion weighted MRI where both of these artifacts are significant.