Anna Leigh Rack-Gomer1, Giedrius Buracas2, Youngkyoo Jung2, Thomas T. Liu1,2
1Bioengineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA; 2Radiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
Passband b-SSFP (pbSSFP) provides an advantageous approach for functional imaging by reducing off-resonance artifacts. Setting TE TR for complete refocusing of spins further reduces the sensitivity of pbSSFP fMRI to physiological noise contamination. Spiral approaches can provide greater acquisition efficiency than EPI, but are less efficient when TE TR. We propose an interleaved spiral in/out approach that has its echo time at the spin refocusing time and maintains its high acquisition efficiency.