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) sinc, gaussian presaturation, or binomial radiofrequency pulses are widely implemented techniques in magnetic resonance imaging. For applications wherein transmitter coils that generate inhomogeneous magnetic (B1), fields are used (e.g., surface coils), adiabatic radiofrequency pulses that are less susceptible to spatial variations in B1 amplitude will improve the spatial homogeneity of spin excitation angle. Herein, we describe the application of an adiabatic half-passage hyperbolic secant CHESS pulse suitable for acquiring fat-suppressed magnetic resonance images with surface coils on high-field systems. Images obtained from a water/fat phantom and from the abdominal region of a rat are presented indicating excellent suppression of fat signal from the entire coil-sensitive volume.