Reduction of flow artifacts by using partial saturation in RF-spoiled gradient-echo imaging

Radiofrequency (RF)-spoiled gradient-echo imaging provides a signal intensity close to pure T(1) contrast by using spoiler gradients and RF phase cycling to eliminate net transverse magnetization. Generally, spins require many RF excitations to reach a steady-state magnetization level; therefore, when unsaturated flowing spins enter the imaging slab, they can cause undesirable signal enhancement and generate image artifacts. These artifacts can be reduced by partially saturating an outer slab upstream to drive the longitudinal magnetization close to the steady state, while the partially saturated spins generate no signal until they enter the imaging slab. In this work, magnetization evolution of flowing spins in RF-spoiled gradient-echo sequences with and without partial saturation was simulated using the Bloch equations. Next, the simulations were validated by phantom and in vivo experiments. For phantom experiments, a pulsatile flow phantom was used to test partial saturation for a range of flip angles and relaxation times. For in vivo experiments, the technique was used to image the carotid arteries, abdominal aorta, and femoral arteries of normal volunteers. All experiments demonstrated that partial saturation can provide consistent T(1) contrast across the slab while reducing inflow artifacts.