Improved field of view-reducing gradient insert: Artifacts and applicationto cardiac imaging

An improved homogeneity-spoiling local gradient insert has been constructed and built into the patient bed to reduce its impact on bore size and setup time, It allows the field of view to be reduced without introducing aliasi ng artifacts, Image quality and artifacts were evaluated for pulse sequence s relevant to cardiac imaging, The utility of the insert is demonstrated by a contrast-enhanced perfusion study, in which the reduced field of view al lowed a 25% increase in resolution and one more slice to be imaged per hear tbeat. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.