Quick Overview

Artifacts either by distorting the k-space trajectory (i.e. due to imperfect shimming) or as a consequence of the reduced bandwidth in the phase encode direction, commonly with EPI sequences.
While a standard spin warp-based sequence has an infinitely large bandwidth in the phase encode direction (about 1 or 2 kH), the bandwidth in EPI is related to the time between the gradient echoes (about a millisecond).
Hence even small frequency offsets can result in significant shifts of the signal in the phase encoding direction. Segmentation can introduce ghosting if there are significant difference in the amplitude and phase of the signal. This can be a particular problem when trying to acquire the segments in rapid succession.

Suitable choices of excitation schemes and/or subsequent correction can help to reduce this artifact. The signal from fat can easily be offset by a large fraction of the FOV, and must be suppressed. The effect of frequency offsets can be reduced by collecting data with more than one excitation, which effectively increases the bandwidth in the phase encoding direction.