Abstract #0461

Combined active and passive shimming of the temporal lobes using graphite-silicone earplugs and a multi-coil B0 shim array

Andrew Lithen^1,2, Albert Tamashausky³, Berkin Bilgic^1,4, Kawin Setsompop⁵, Bryan Kennedy¹, Lilianne Mujica-Parodi^1,2, Lawrence Wald^1,4, Shahin Nasr^1,4, and Jason Stockmann^1,4

¹A. A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, United States, ²Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States, ³Asbury Carbons, Asbury, NJ, United States, ⁴Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States, ⁵Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States

Neuroimaging of the human brain temporal lobes has long been impeded by severe B₀ inhomogeneity arising from air-tissue susceptibility interfaces around the ear canals and temporal bone. Here, we propose localized passive shimming using graphite-embedded silicone ear plugs, which replace standard ear plugs used during MRI. We further synergistically combine the passive shims with active multi-coil B₀ shimming to boost shim performance. Our results show improvements in B₀ homogeneity as assessed using field maps and signal loss and distortion in gradient-echo EPI slices.

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