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Multi-Echo SSFP: A Method for Synthetic bSSFP MRI Contrast Without Banding Artifacts at High Field
Haotian Hong1, Michael N Hoff2, Wenchao Yang3
1School of Biomedical Engineering, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, China.
Magnetic Resonance in Medicine
|June 13, 2026
Summary
A new multi-echo SSFP (MESS) sequence eliminates banding artifacts in high-field MRI. This advanced technique synthesizes tunable balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) contrast without signal loss, improving image quality.
Area of Science:
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
- Pulse Sequence Development
Background:
- Balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) offers high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and T2/T1 contrast.
- Banding artifacts due to B0 inhomogeneity limit bSSFP in high-field MRI.
Purpose of the Study:
- Introduce a multi-echo SSFP (MESS) sequence to generate artifact-free bSSFP contrast.
- Enable tunable contrast without banding in high-field MRI.
Main Methods:
- MESS acquires multiple echoes separately, unlike conventional bSSFP.
- Extended Phase Graph (EPG) modeling shows summing echo magnitudes reconstructs bSSFP contrast.
- Retrospective contrast tuning via virtual phase-cycle increment (Δϕ).
Main Results:
- Phantom studies confirmed MESS eliminates banding artifacts.
- In vivo scans demonstrated artifact suppression and maintained bSSFP-like contrast.
- Flexible contrast variation achieved by tuning Δϕ.
Conclusions:
- MESS robustly generates banding artifact-free bSSFP contrast in high-field MRI.
- The technique leverages echo magnitude and virtual phase-cycling for contrast synthesis.
- MESS shows strong potential for reliable image contrast generation.
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