Joint pre-emphasis and post-processing method for improving GIRF-based spiral trajectory correction

Motivation: Gradient imperfections typically cause ringing and blurring artifacts in spiral imaging. Gradient impulse response function (GIRF) characterizes the gradient system and can be applied for gradient prediction in image reconstruction. However, the low-pass characteristic of the gradient system could cause a penalty of the achieved resolution. Goal(s): This work aims to improve the GIRF-based spiral trajectory correction. Approach: A joint pre-emphasis and post-processing method was introduced to correct spiral trajectory. The effectiveness of our proposed method was tested on the phantom and in-vivo experiments. Results: The ringing and blurring artifacts were further mitigated using our proposed method. Impact: A joint pre-emphasis and post-processing correction strategy was proposed in this study. The results of phantom and in-vivo experiments indicate that our proposed method yields good image quality and effectively reduces the loss of the actual resolution.