Starter sequence for steady-state free precession imaging.
The dynamic equilibrium exploited by balanced steady-state free precession imaging develops slowly because its formation is dependent on both spin-spin and spin-lattice relaxation times. Attempting to image before steady state is established results in artifacts due to transient signal oscillations. Using a starter sequence to precondition the spin system can significantly reduce the delay before imaging. An improved design for a steady-state starter sequence is presented. The new sequence has the advantage of uniformly exciting the steady-state response for all resonance offsets and can be phase cycled to suppress banding artifacts.
Foxall
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DL
Philips Medical Systems (Cleveland), Inc., 595 Miner Road, Cleveland, OH 44143, USA. david.foxall@philips.com
D016477:Artifacts; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006321:Heart / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D019028:Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine / Q000379:methods*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted