Figure 1.
Diagram of the pulse sequence that combines ASL and a segmented multi-phase bSSFP readout. A saturation pulse is applied in the image plane to suppress the image background before the inversion pulse. Two pulse sequence schemes are proposed: the FAIR method (a) in which the bSSFP readout immediately follows the inversionpulse; and the QUIPSS II method (b) in which a delay is inserted between the inversion pulse and bSSFP readout. A saturation pulse is applied inferior to the image plane to spoil the label at the delay time.