FAT-SUPPRESSION AT 7T USING A SURFACE COIL - APPLICATION OF AN ADIABATIC HALF-PASSAGE CHEMICAL-SHIFT SELECTIVE RADIOFREQUENCY PULSE

The selective suppression of fat using chemical shift selective (CHESS ) sine, gaussian presaturation, or binomial radiofrequency pulses are widely implemented techniques in magnetic resonance imaging, For appli cations wherein transmitter coils that generate inhomogeneous magnetic (B-1) fields are used (eg, surface coils), adiabatic radiofreqnency g uises that are less susceptible to spatial variations in B-1 amplitude will improve the spatial homogeneity of spin excitation angle, Herein , we describe the application of an adiabatic half-passage hyperbolic secant CRESS pulse suitable for acquiring fat-suppressed magnetic reso nance images with surface coils on high-held systems, images obtained from a water/fat phantom and from the abdominal region of a rat are pr esented indicating excellent suppression of fat signal from the entire coil-sensitive volume.