Hans Weber1, Martin Haas1, Denis Kokorin2, 3, Daniel Gallichan1, Jrgen Hennig1, Maxim Zaitsev1
1Department of Radiology, Medical Physics,, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; 2Department of Radiology, Medical Physics, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; 3International Tomography Center, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
ExLoc allows excitation and geometrically matched spatial encoding of customized curved slices, based on a combination of linear and nonlinear gradients. However, the nonlinearity of the applied slice-selection field results in curved slices with varying thickness. In this study we investigate the combination of the ExLoc technique with multi-dimensional RF-pulses for the adaptation of the slice-thickness variation. Compared to conventional multi-dimensional excitation with linear encoding fields to excite a curved slice, using this approach allows considerably shorter RF-pulses to be used.
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