Robust Calibration Strategy for Multiband EPI at 7 Tesla

Suchandrima Banerjee¹, Atsushi Takahashi¹, Yuval Zur², Ajit Shankaranarayanan¹, Douglas A.C. Kelley³

Multiband echo planar imaging (EPI) is an important enabler for achieving high temporal and spatial resolution for brain connectivity studies. Determination of the slice separation coefficients is generally performed using single slice acquisitions. However, at high fields such as 7 Tesla, care must be taken to avoid errors from geometric distortion and susceptibility effects. In this work we propose a calibration method which uses equivalent modulation schemes for both the calibration and the actual acquisition to guarantee that off-resonance and other effects present in the actual acquisition, are also similarly present in the calibration and thereby compensated.