SPAIR and Chemical Shift Artifact

[jross72]

We have a Philips Achieva 1.5T and for breast MRI we use SPAIR for fat suppression with our eThrive sequence (a 3D GRE technique). We get thin, curvilinear black lines at fat-glandular tissue and fat-skin interfaces which have the appearance of chemical shift artifact. When I switch to SPIR for fat suppression, the artifact disappears, but the inhomogeneity is not good, so SPAIR is the better option. Are there any known techniques for reducing or removing the artifact?

Thanks.