Image reconstruction of sequentially sampled echo-planar data.

For echo-planar imaging (EPI), failure to time-reverse alternate echoes results in aliasing in the image. We encountered image artifacts in EPI acquired on a system with sequential sampling. After examining the source of these image artifacts, we concluded that the artifacts were a result of the type of sampling method used in data acquisition and the way the time-reversal of alternate echoes was carried out prior to Fourier transformation. Two methods are demonstrated to obtain artifact-free EPI with sequential data sampling.