Accurate actual flip angle imaging (AFI) in the presence of fat

Purpose To investigate the effect of incomplete fat spoiling on the accuracy of B 1 mapping with actual flip angle imaging (AFI) and to propose a method to minimize the errors using the chemical shift properties of fat. Theory and Methods Diffusion‐based dephasing is the main spoiling mechanism exploited in AFI. However, a very low diffusion in fat may make the spoiling insufficient, leading to ghosts in the B 1 maps. As the errors retain the chemical‐shift signature of fat, their impact can be minimized using chemical‐shift‐based fat signal removal from AFI acquisition modified to include multi‐echo readout. The source of the errors and the proposed correction were studied in simulations and phantom and in‐vivo imaging experiments. Results Our results support that AFI artifacts are caused by the incomplete fat spoiling present in clinically attractive short TR acquisition regimes. The correction eliminated the ghosting and significantly improved the B 1 mapping accuracy as well as the accuracy of R 1 mapping performed with AFI‐derived B 1 maps. Conclusions The incomplete fat signal spoiling may be a source of AFI B 1 mapping errors, especially in subjects with high fat content. Achieving complete fat spoiling requires longer TR, which is undesirable in clinical applications. The proposed approach based on fat signal removal can reduce errors without significant prolongation of the AFI pulse sequence. We propose that, when attaining complete fat spoiling is not feasible, AFI mapping should be performed in a multi‐echo regime with appropriate fat separation or suppression to minimize these errors.