Localized B0 shimming based on 23Na MRI at 7 T

Abstract

Purpose: To validate the feasibility of localized B0 shimming based on B0 maps acquired with sodium (23Na) MRI. Methods: A localized B0 shimming routine based on a constrained regularized algorithm in combination with 23Na MRI data acquired with a 3D density-adapted radial readout scheme was implemented on a 7T MR system. Measurements were performed using a dual-tuned 23Na/1H head coil. The quality of B0 maps reconstructed from 23Na images and the resulting shim values was examined depending on the acquisition duration between 10 minutes and 15 seconds to examine clinical applicability. The B0 shimming based on 23Na B0 maps was performed both for phantom and human head of 6 healthy volunteers, and the resulting B0 homogeneity was compared with the vendor-provided 1H MRI–based gradient-echo brain shimming routine. Results: The proposed 23Na MRI–based shimming routine showed a reduction in B0 variation comparable to the vendor-provided shim both in phantom and in vivo measurements. Within the examined multicompartment phantom, the B0 variations could be reduced by up to 77% using the 23Na MRI–based shim. In human head, B0 variations were reduced by approximately 50% using an acquisition time of 15 seconds for the 23Na B0 maps and only 1 iteration of B0 shimming. Conclusion: The 23Na MRI–based localized B0 shimming is possible at 7 T within clinically acceptable acquisition durations (< 1 minute). It was shown that using the proposed 23Na MRI–based shimming approach, the 23Na image quality at ultrahigh field strength can be strongly improved.