Korean J Radiol.  2015 Jun;16(3):550-559. 10.3348/kjr.2015.16.3.550.

Physiological and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Using Balanced Steady-state Free Precession

• Park SH
• Han PK
• Choi SH

• KMID: 2155524
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3348/kjr.2015.16.3.550

Abstract

Balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) is a highly efficient pulse sequence that is known to provide the highest signal-to-noise ratio per unit time. Recently, bSSFP is getting increasingly popular in both the research and clinical communities. This review will be focusing on the application of the bSSFP technique in the context of probing the physiological and functional information. In the first part of this review, the basic principles of bSSFP are briefly covered. Afterwards, recent developments related to the application of bSSFP, in terms of physiological and functional imaging, are introduced and reviewed. Despite its long development history, bSSFP is still a promising technique that has many potential benefits for obtaining high-resolution physiological and functional images.

Keyword

bSSFP; TrueFISP; FIESTA; bFFE; Physiological MRI; Arterial spin labeling; fMRI

MeSH Terms

Cervical Vertebrae/*blood supply/radiography
Head/*blood supply/radiography
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted/*methods
Magnetic Resonance Imaging/*methods
Signal-To-Noise Ratio

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Pulse sequence diagram of balanced steady-state free precession. Sum of all gradients in each of three directions (slice-selection, phase-encoding, and frequency-encoding) is zero. Phase of radio frequency (RF) pulse, denoted as phase-cycling angle (θ), can be incremented after every repetition time (TR). Echo time (TE) is typically set to half of TR. GSS, GPE, and GFE represent gradients for slice selection, phase encoding, and frequency encoding, respectively.

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  Fig. 2 Magnetization changes of balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) sequence with half-alpha preparation and phase-cycling angle of 180°. Mz denotes longitudinal magnetization and My denotes transverse magnetization along y-axis in rotating frame, and α denotes flip angle of radio frequency pulse. Notice that magnitude of transvers

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  Fig. 3 Balanced steady-state signal profile as function of off-resonance frequency in one repetition time. Magnitude and phase responses of balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) signals are shown as function of off-resonance precession angle per each repetition time. bSSFP signal profile for phase-cycling angles of 0° (A), 90° (B), 180° (C), and 270° (D) are shown. Notice that signal profile is periodic and that signal profile shifts with each phase-cycling angle.

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  Fig. 4 Baseline and cerebral blood flow images of brain and were acquired using three-dimensional pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling technique with balanced steady-state free precession readout scheme. Repetition time/echo time = 4/2 ms, field of view = 240 × 180 × 20 mm3, matrix = 128 × 96 × 4, number of average for pair-wise subtraction = 40, and scan time = 4 minutes. p.u. = percent unit

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  Fig. 5 Inter-slice blood flow images acquired with alternate ascending/descending directional navigation (ALADDIN). Balanced steady-state free precession sequence is used for ALADDIN acquisition. Baseline (A), perfusion with direction from feet (F) to head (H) (B), and perfusion with direction from head (H) to feet (F) (C) images are shown. Arrow indicates superior sagittal sinus. Repetition time/echo time = 4/2 ms, field of view = 230 × 230 mm2, matrix = 128 × 128, slice thickness = 5 mm, phase oversampling = 50%, number of slices = 15, number average for pair-wise subtraction = 8, and scan time = -3 minutes. p.u. = percent unit

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  Fig. 6 Sagittal view of inter-slice blood flow and magnetization transfer (MT) asymmetry images in cervical spines simultaneously acquired with alternate ascending/descending directional navigation (ALADDIN). Balanced steady-state free precession sequence is used for ALADDIN acquisition. Baseline (A), perfusion (B), and MT asymmetry (C) images are shown. Repetition time/echo time = 4/2 ms, field of view = 240 × 240 mm2, matrix = 128 × 128, slice thickness = 4 mm, phase oversampling = 50%, number of slices = 13, number average for pair-wise subtraction = 8, and scan time = -3 minutes. p.u. = percent unit

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  Fig. 7 Investigation of activation foci of high-resolution functional MRI maps. Functional MRI maps acquired at 9.4-T with fast low angle shot (FLASH) (A), transition-band balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) with time to repeat (TR) = 20 ms (B), pass-band bSSFP with TR = 10 ms (C), and pass-band bSSFP with TR = 20 ms (D). Echo time was set to half of TR for all images. Each functional MRI map is overlaid on corresponding averaged baseline image. Matrix size = 256 × 128, field of view = 2.2 × 1.1 cm2, slice thickness = 1 mm, and number of slice = 1 for all images. Flip angle was 8°, 4°, 16°, and 16° for images in A-D, respectively, and angles were optimized based on simulation at 9.4-T. E. Venogram with minimum intensity projection at same location as functional MRI maps in A-D.

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