Figure 1
From: Black-blood T1 mapping at 3T: Reduced partial-voluming using adiabatic MSDE preparation
a) Sequence diagram of the SAPPHIRE black-blood T 1 mapping sequence. An adiabatic MSDE preparation is inserted directly before the imaging pulses. In MSDE, blood-signal suppression is caused by symmetric dephasing gradients before and after a refocusing pulse, causing incomplete refocusing of moving tissue and greatly increasing the blood/myocardium contrast. b) Simulated magnetization signal at the various inversion times of a SAPPHIRE sequence. High signal is observed in conventional T 1 mapping from the blood pools despite the long T 1 time. Black-blood SAPPHIRE shows almost complete suppression of the blood signal for the trade-off against a slightly decreased dynamic range in the myocardial signal.