Real‐time black‐blood MRI using spatial presaturation

A real‐time interactive black‐blood imaging system is described. Rapid blood suppression is achieved by exciting and dephasing slabs outside the imaging slice before each imaging excitation. Sharp‐profiled radio frequency saturation pulses placed close to the imaging slice provide good blood suppression, even in views containing slow through‐plane flow. In vivo results indicate that this technique improves endocardial border definition during systole in real‐time cardiac wall‐motion studies. Phantom and animal results indicate that this technique nearly eliminates flow artifacts in real‐time intravascular studies. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2001;13:807–812. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.