In Flow Effects in Alternating Differenced Balanced Steady State Free Precession Imaging: A Brain Study

Neville D. Gai¹, John A. Butman¹

Alternating excitation and/or phase perturbed balanced SSFP provides highly localized variations in magnetization. The technique has been recently proposed as a means to provide positive contrast imaging. Here, the inflow effect is studied in relation to the technique. Simulations and in-vivo imaging in the brain show that blood as well as CSF pulsatility can be a confounding factor when using the sequence for positive contrast imaging. Means to reduce inflow effects need to be developed.