Reduction of B0 inhomogeneity effects in triple-quantum-filtered sodium imaging

Triple-quantum (TQ) filtered sodium MR imaging has been proposed for separation of sodium signal arising from different physiological compartments. in a three-pulse sequence without refocussing pulse, the TQ signal is strongly sensitive to inhomogeneities of the B-0 field. We examine the dependence of the TQ signal intensity on the sequence parameters and propose a modified phase-cycling scheme to improve image quality. A new method for correction of B-0 inhomogeneity artefacts in TQ filtered sodium imaging is presented which requires only two acquisitions to obtain a correction as far as the B-0 inhomogeneity and the Pulse widths are not too large. The method was verified in phantom experiments. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.