Fig. 3.

Maps of the voxel-wise optimized parameters for 16 slices in case of oblique transverse acquisitions with an in-plane resolution of 3 × 3mm², a matrix size of 64 × 64 and a slice thickness of 3 mm. Optimal shim gradient moment (a), optimal slice angulation (b) and BS gain achieved with the optimal parameter set compared to standard EPI with no shim gradient and slice angulation (c). In each case the optimized parameters are shown for a positive PE gradient (top row) and for a negative PE gradient (bottom row). A mask has been applied to show only optimized parameters with a BS gain of at least 20%.