Simultaneous Multislice Spiral Imaging Using Z-Gradient Modulation and Parallel Receive Coils

Alan Chu¹, Douglas C. Noll¹

We propose a simultaneous multislice spiral imaging method that uses z-gradient modulation during readout for better slice separation. The method uses a multiple-coil receive array and sensitivity maps for the iterative reconstruction. Although the method can be used in a variety of applications, it has particular potential in fMRI because of the inherent advantages of spiral readout and increased efficiency from multislice acquisition. We demonstrate the method in an fMRI scan with promising results.