SSFP Diffusion Prepared SSFSE

Weiying Dai¹, Philip M. Robson¹, David C. Alsop¹

SSFP diffusion weighted imaging in the body can have improved image quality relative to echoplanar imaging. Its stronger diffusion attenuation of longer T2 fluid may also be a particular benefit in cancer screening studies, but the slow acquisition speed is a major limitation. Here we propose performing a diffusion weighted SSFP sequence as a preparation for a faster SSFSE sequence. The theoretical signal is described and pulse parameters are optimized. The resulting sequence is then applied to in-vivo diffusion weighted imaging of volunteers. Excellent suppression of fluid and blood signal is demonstrated.