Kimberly Lara Desmond1, Sean Deoni2,
1Medical Biophysics, University
of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; 2Oxford University, Oxford,
United Kingdom; 3Imaging Research, Sunnybrook Health Sciences
Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada
A quantitative two-pool compartmental model of CEST has been adapted to describe the signal observed with the balanced SSFP experiment. We examined the consequences of changing both RF phase and offset frequency on the characteristics of the asymmetry in the spectrum introduced by the off-resonance CEST component. Balanced SSFP sequences show promise for the measurement of CEST asymmetry and can be performed with a TR a hundred times less than that required for traditional continuous wave CEST experiments.