Simon Konstandin1, Lothar R. Schad1
1Computer Assisted Clinical Medicine, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
Minimal echo times are required for sodium MRI with a fast biexponential transversal decay. The RF pulse duration of slice-selective excitation is limited by gradient slew rate, amplitude, and RF peak power. The minimal necessary RF pulse duration was investigated, depending on flip angle and reference voltage of the coil using different VERSE approaches and Fermi-shaped RF pulses. Sodium heart measurements are shown to demonstrate SNR changes in myocardium due to different minimal echo times.
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