Spin-labeling angiography of the carotids by presaturation and simplified adiabatic inversion

A new adiabatic inversion pulse is tested for a spin-labeling subtraction angiography method. Adiabatic nature of the pulse is achieved by ramping the gradient during the RF pulse. In addition, with cardiac triggering, any irregularity of the heartbeat would decrease cancellation of the static tissue after subtraction. A 90 degree presaturation pulse applied to prevent this suppresses the background intensity from the static tissue by a factor greater than 2. Slice angiograms of carotid arteries are presented.