Superbalanced Steady State Free Precession

Oliver Bieri¹

Finite radio-frequency (RF) pulses can give raise to considerable signal deviations from the common steady-state free precession (SSFP) theory in the transient and steady state, which may impair the accuracy of SSFP-based quantification techniques. Here, a generic approach for intrinsic compensation of finite RF pulse effects is introduced, based on balancing transverse relaxation effects during finite RF excitation (similar to flow or motion compensation of gradient moments), resulting in a superbalanced SSFP sequence free of finite RF pulse effects in the transient and in the steady state, irrespective of the RF pulse duration, relaxation times and flip angles.