Background suppression by time dependent flip angle of saturation pulses

1. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system comprising:

an MRI gantry including a static magnetic field coil, gradient magnetic field coils, at least one radio frequency (RF) coil configured to transmit RF nuclear excitation pulses into an imaging volume, and to receive nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) RF signals from an object located in the imaging volume; and

control circuits configured to control gradient magnetic fields generated by said gradient magnetic field coils, and to transmit/receive RF signals to and from said at least one RF coil, the control circuits being configured to perform operations comprising:

generating, in a selected walking slab area of the object, upon expiration of a first time interval from a start of a scan interval, at least one RF saturation pulse having a flip angle greater than ninety degrees, the flip angle being configured so that longitudinal magnetization of background substance including venous blood flow in an area to be imaged is substantially nulled at a readout time occurring upon expiry of a second time interval, the selected walking slab area spatially overlapping the area to be imaged;

generating, during said readout time, an MRI data acquisition sequence for the area to be imaged so as to generate MRI signals from non-saturated arterial blood flowing into the area to be imaged; and

receiving said digital MRI signals from said at least one RF coil during the readout time and using the received MRI signals to reconstruct an MR image of arterial blood flow in the area to be imaged.

2. The MRI system according to claim 1 , wherein the second time interval is configurable and dimensioned to cause said substantial nulling at a readout time for a central position of k-space.

3. The MRI system according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one RF saturation pulse comprises both an imaging plane background saturation pulse and a venous blood suppression pulse, each having flip angles configured to substantially null respectively associated NMR magnetization signals at a readout time for a central position of k-space.

4. The MRI system according to claim 1 , wherein the flip angle is based upon a predetermined T 1 spin lattice relaxation curve and the second time interval which has been configured to maximize inflow of fresh arterial blood into the area to be imaged before said readout time.

5. The MRI system according to claim 4 , wherein the first time interval is configurable and set to a time interval for reaching a systolic stage of the cardiac cycle in the area to be imaged, and wherein the second time interval is configurable and set to a time interval for reaching a diastolic state of the cardiac cycle in the area to be imaged.

6. The MRI system according to claim 4 , wherein the second time interval is configurable and based at least in part upon blood flow speed in the selected area to be imaged.

7. MRI system according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one RF saturation pulse comprises:

an imaging slice RF saturation pulse in at least a portion of the selected area; and

a venous saturation pulse in a walking saturation slab located in the selected area contiguous to or overlapped with said imaging slice.

8. The MRI system according to claim 1 , wherein the MRI data acquisition sequence uses a 2D fast acquisition spin echo (FASE) technique.

9. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method, comprising:

generate, in a selected walking slab area of an object located in an MRI gantry, upon expiration of a first time interval from a start of a scan interval, at least one RF saturation pulse having a flip angle greater than ninety degrees, the flip angle being configured so that longitudinal magnetization of background substance including venous blood flow in an area to be imaged is substantially nulled at a readout time occurring upon expiry of a second time interval, the selected walking slab area spatially overlapping the area to be imaged;

generate, during said readout time, an MRI data acquisition in the area to be imaged so as to generate MRI signals from non-saturated arterial blood flowing into the area to be imaged; and

receive said digital MRI signals from said at least one RF coil during the readout time and use the received MRI signals to reconstruct an MR image of arterial blood flow in the area to be imaged.

10. The MRI method according to claim 9 , wherein the second time interval is configurable and dimensioned to cause said substantial nulling at a readout time for a central position of k-space.

11. The MRI method according to claim 9 , wherein said at least one RF saturation pulse comprises both an imaging plane background saturation pulse and a venous blood suppression pulse, each having flip angles configured to substantially null respectively associated NMR magnetization signals at the a readout time for a central position of k-space.

12. MRI method according to claim 9 , wherein the flip angle is based upon a predetermined T 1 spin lattice relaxation curve and the second time interval which has been configured to maximize in flow of fresh arterial blood into the area to be imaged before said readout time.

13. MRI method according to claim 12 , wherein the first time interval is configurable and set to a time interval for reaching a systolic stage of the cardiac cycle in the area to be imaged, and wherein the second time interval is configurable and set to a time interval for reaching a diastolic state of the cardiac cycle in the area to be imaged.

14. The MRI method according to claim 13 , wherein the second time interval is configurable and based at least in part upon blood flow speed in the selected area to be imaged.

15. The MRI method according to claim 9 , wherein the at least one RF saturation pulse comprises:

an imaging slice RF saturation pulse in the area to be imaged; and

a venous saturation pulse in a walking saturation slab located in the selected area contiguous to or overlapped with said imaging slice.

16. The MRI method according to claim 9 , wherein the MRI data acquisition sequence uses a 2D fast acquisition spin echo (FASE) technique.

17. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions, that when executed by a processor of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, causes the MRI system to perform operations comprising:

generating, in a selected walking slab area of the object, upon expiration of a first time interval from a start of a scan interval, at least one RF saturation pulse having a flip angle greater than ninety degrees, the flip angle being configured so that longitudinal magnetization of background substance including venous blood flow in an area to be imaged is substantially nulled at a readout time occurring upon expiry of a second time interval, the selected walking slab area spatially overlapping the area to be imaged;

generating, during said readout time, an MRI data acquisition sequence for the area to be imaged so as to generate MRI signals from non-saturated arterial blood flowing into the area to be imaged; and

receiving said MRI signals from said at least one RF coil during the readout time and using the received MRI signals to reconstruct an MR image of arterial blood flow in the area to be imaged.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17 , wherein said at least one RF saturation pulse comprises both an imaging plane background saturation pulse and a venous blood suppression pulse, each having flip angles configured to substantially null respectively associated NMR magnetization signals at the beginning of the readout time.

19. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system comprising:

an MRI gantry including a static magnetic field coil, gradient magnetic field coils, at least one radio frequency (RF) coil configured to transmit RF nuclear excitation pulses into an imaging volume, and to receive nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) RF signals from an object located in the imaging volume; and

control circuits configured to control gradient magnetic fields generated by said gradient magnetic field coils, and to transmit/receive RF signals to and from said at least one RF coil, the control circuits being configured to perform operations comprising:

generating, in a selected walking slab area of the object, upon expiration of a time interval from a start of a scan interval, at least one RF saturation pulse having a flip angle greater than ninety degrees, the flip angle being configured so that longitudinal magnetization of background substance including venous blood flow in an area to be imaged is substantially nulled when a lowest frequency of k-space data is acquired for the selected area, the selected walking slab area spatially overlapping the area to be imaged;

generating, during a readout time, an MRI data acquisition sequence for the area to be imaged so as to generate MRI signals from non-saturated arterial blood flowing into the area to be imaged; and

receiving said MRI signals from said at least one RF coil during the readout time and using the received MRI signals to reconstruct an MR image of arterial blood flow in the area to be imaged.

20. The MRI system according to claim 19 , wherein the lowest frequency of k-space data is acquired for the selected area at a beginning of the readout time occurring upon expiry of a second time interval from application of said at least one RF saturation pulse.