Simulated phase evolution rewinding (SPHERE): A technique for reducing B₀ inhomogeneity effects in MR images

A novel method for reducing field inhomogeneity effects in magnetic resonance images is described in this paper. Observing that image degradation arises from B0 inhomogeneity-induced phase accrual during data acquisition, the present method numerically rewinds the accumulated phase in the k-space data based on an initial estimate of the image and a corresponding field map. The rewinding process generates a corrected k-space data set that is subsequently Fourier transformed to produce the final image. In this paper, a theoretical analysis of the method and applications of the technique to magnetic resonance imaging data are presented. The theoretical analysis of the method indicates that it is a general approach applicable to a variety of sequences. Results obtained by applying the method to experimental data acquired with single-shot echo-planar imaging, segmented echo-planar imaging with centric reordering, and spiral sequences demonstrate that it is robust in reducing image degradation induced by B0 inhomogeneity.