Fig. 1.

Reduced FOV diffusion sequence scheme (A) with gradient moment nulling (both 0th and 1st orders) in the slice-selective direction. Grey areas indicate matched gradient moments. Fat suppression was achieved with a frequency selective fat saturation module before the excitation pulse and gradient reversal between the two refocusing/inversion pulses. (B) Slice position with separate slice groups and tilted slices within the group. White arrows are landmarks for slice positioning. Green boxes (i.e., shimming volume) restrict the spatial region of B₀ homogeneity optimization to a relatively homogeneous tissue (i.e., spinal cord). (C) Slice position and shimming volume in the coronal view. This arrangement accommodated the natural curvature of the human spine and enabled compensating for positioning differences in the same subject on different visits. Furthermore, slices were individually tilted within the slice group to be parallel to the cross-section of the cord. Figure adapted from (Klawiter et al., 2012; Xu et al., 2010) with modification.