Solving fat-water separation with arbitrary echo combination by phase unwrapping

The phase unwrapping technique is only applicable to the fat-water separation problems with IP/OP acquisition. This work developed a transition approach that enabled phase unwrapping technique applicable to fat-water separation with arbitrary TE combination. By establishing intermediate variables, the proposed method provided an effective way to diminish the traditional “ambiguity” problem. To validate the concept, datasets acquired with various field strength, anatomical areas and acquisition types (two-point and six-point acquisition) were applied, and no fat-water swaps were observed.