Adiabatic pulses for outer volume suppression in non-contrast coronary Magnetic Resonance Angiography

Motivation: Large field-of-views in body imaging, e.g. coronary magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), are a limiting factor for short scan times, but this can be mitigated with outer volume suppression (OVS) and high parallel imaging acceleration rates. Goal(s): Evaluate the use of adiabatic pulses for OVS in accelerated coronary MRA. Approach: Two single-band adiabatic pulses and a dual-band adiabatic (DBA) pulse were optimized in terms of stop-band flip angle and evaluated in spoiled GRE-based coronary MRA. Results: Adiabatic pulses demonstrate thorough signal suppression in stop-bands and a significant reduction of fold-over artifacts in vivo, with DBA bearing the promise of slightly improved homogeneity. Impact: Single and dual-band adiabatic pulses provide robust outer volume suppression in accelerated coronary imaging, successfully mitigating residual fold-over artifacts.