Multislice 1H MRSI of the human brain at 7 T using dynamic B0 and B1 shimming

Proton MR spectroscopic imaging of the human brain at ultra-high field (=7 T) is challenging due to increased radio frequency power deposition, increased magnetic field B0 inhomogeneity, and increased radio frequency magnetic field inhomogeneity. In addition, especially for multislice sequences, these effects directly inhibit the potential gains of higher magnetic field and can even cause a reduction in data quality. However, recent developments in dynamic B0 magnetic field shimming and dynamic multitransmit radio frequency control allow for new acquisition strategies. Therefore, in this work, slice-by-slice B0 and B1 shimming was developed to optimize both B0 magnetic field homogeneity and nutation angle over a large portion of the brain. Together with a low-power water and lipid suppression sequence and pulse-acquire spectroscopic imaging, a multislice MR spectroscopic imaging sequence is shown to be feasible at 7 T. This now allows for multislice metabolic imaging of the human brain with high sensitivity and high chemical shift resolution at ultra-high field. Magn Reson Med, 2012. (c) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.