bSSFP II
Ruth P. Lim1
1Austin Health, Heidelberg, Australia

Synopsis

Balanced steady state free precession (b-SSFP) imaging was described in 1958 and has become an invaluable MRI sequence with applications in cardiac and vascular imaging, and also for other regions. Some examples demonstrating the versatility and clinical usage of b-SSFP will be presented.

The principles underpinning balanced steady state free precession (b-SSFP) imaging were first described in 1958 by Herman Carr. However, it was only with the advent of very fast gradient amplifiers that it became possible to implement clinically towards the end of the twentieth century. Today it is hard to imagine not having the sequence available in the MRI armamentarium. Nowhere is this more apparent than in cardiovascular imaging, where its speed and high SNR have been utilized in multiple ways. However, clinical applications now extend to many areas of the body.

Clinical applications include:
1. Cardiac
a. cine imaging for functional evaluation
b. Myocardial tissue characterization
c. Late gadolinium enhanced imaging for myocardial scar and fibrosis
d. Myocardial perfusion
e. Coronary MRA

2. Vascular
a. Thoracic aortic MRA
b. Renal MRA
c. Extremity MRA/ MRV
d. Cerebral MRA

3. Abdominal
a. Dynamic assessment of the bowel, pelvic floor etc.
b. Rapid T2-like imaging

4. Neurology
a. Posterior fossa imaging
b. Cerebral perfusion

Some examples demonstrating the versatility and clinical usage of b-SSFP will be presented.

Acknowledgements

No acknowledgement found.

References

  1. Carr HY (1958) Steady-state free precession in nuclear magnetic resonance. Phys Rev 112:1693–1701.
  2. Oppelt A, Graumann R, Barfuss H, Fischer H, Hartl W, Schajor W (1986) FISP: a new fast MRI sequence. Electromedica (Engl Ed) 54:15–18.
  3. Bieri O, Scheffler K (2013) Fundamentals of balanced steady state free precession MRI. J Magn Reson Imaging 38: 2-11.
Proc. Intl. Soc. Mag. Reson. Med. 30 (2022)