Correction of slab boundary artifact using histogram matching

Abstract

Purpose: To improve the imaging efficiency of multi-slab three-dimensional acquisitions by decreasing slab overlap and the number of blanked slices. Materials and Methods: Application of the histogram matching technique for correction of the slab boundary artifact (SBA) due to non-ideal radiofrequency pulse profiles has been proposed. The technique was validated by studying its effectiveness in reducing the SBA in phantom images, as well as in proton density- and T2-weighted brain images. Results: The correction algorithm considerably decreases the disruption of image volume continuity due to the SBA, and improves slice-to-slice intensity continuity. Conclusion: The proposed technique can greatly reduce the SBA when the SBA can be described as a global intensity variation along the slab. The technique may be used to improve imaging efficiency of the multi-slab three-dimensional fast spin-echo sequences by decreasing the amount of required slab overlap. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.