Which of the following is not considered a method to reduce artifacts in MRI?

Using a thicker slice thickness is not considered a method to reduce artifacts in MRI, primarily because increasing slice thickness can actually contribute to certain types of artifacts rather than diminish them. Thicker slices can lead to increased partial volume effects, where areas of different tissue types are averaged together, potentially obscuring finer details and introducing artifacts such as blurring.

In contrast, proper patient positioning, increasing receive bandwidth, and optimized coil selection are all techniques that help to mitigate artifacts. Proper positioning ensures that the area of interest is optimally placed within the magnetic field and reduces motion artifacts. Increasing receive bandwidth can reduce susceptibility artifacts by enabling a faster acquisition time and minimizing chemical shift artifacts. Optimized coil selection allows for better signal reception based on the anatomy being imaged, which improves image quality and reduces noise and artifacts. Thus, the choice of thicker slice thickness does not support artifact reduction in the same way these other methods do.