Correction of slab boundary artifact using histogram matching.

PURPOSE To improve the imaging efficiency of multi-slab three-dimensional acquisitions by decreasing slab overlap and the number of blanked slices. MATERIALS AND METHODS Application of the histogram matching technique for correction of the slab boundary artifact (SBA) due to non-ideal radiofrequency pulse profiles has been proposed. The technique was validated by studying its effectiveness in reducing the SBA in phantom images, as well as in proton density- and T2-weighted brain images. RESULTS The correction algorithm considerably decreases the disruption of image volume continuity due to the SBA, and improves slice-to-slice intensity continuity. CONCLUSION The proposed technique can greatly reduce the SBA when the SBA can be described as a global intensity variation along the slab. The technique may be used to improve imaging efficiency of the multi-slab three-dimensional fast spin-echo sequences by decreasing the amount of required slab overlap.