Magnetic resonance in medicine : official journal of the Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine
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To improve the clinical utility of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) by extending the slice coverage of a high-resolution reduced field-of-view technique. ⋯ The proposed Hadamard slice-encoding scheme doubles the slice coverage of the 2D echo-planar RF reduced field-of-view method without any scan-time penalty.
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Simultaneous multislice (SMS) imaging can significantly increase image acquisition rates and improve temporal resolution and contrast in gradient-echo blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) functional MRI (fMRI) experiments. Through-plane signal loss due to B(0) inhomogeneities at air-tissue interfaces limits fMRI of structures near the nasal cavity and ear canals. This study implemented spectral-spatial (SPSP) radiofrequency pulses for reduced through-plane signal loss across multiple simultaneously excited slices. ⋯ It is demonstrated that SPSP-SMS pulses can improve BOLD sensitivity in areas of signal loss across simultaneous multiple slices.