Magnetic resonance in medicine : official journal of the Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine
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Blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) functional MRI (fMRI) can be severely hampered by signal loss due to susceptibility-induced static magnetic field (B(0)) inhomogeneities near air/tissue interfaces. A single-shot spiral-in/out sequence with a z-shim gradient embedded between the two acquisitions was previously proposed to efficiently recover the signal. However, despite promising results, this technique had several limitations, which are addressed here as follows. ⋯ Second, by acquiring a B(0) map, the optimal z-shim gradients can be directly, efficiently, and accurately determined for each subject. Third, by complementing the z-shimming approach with sensitivity encoding (SENSE), the in-plane spatial resolution can be increased and, hence, susceptibility artifacts further reduced, while maintaining a high temporal resolution for fMRI applications. These advantages are demonstrated in human functional studies.