3D inner-volume (IV) steady-state imaging is a candidate for, e.g., high-resolution BOLD fMRI, but it can be challenging to achieve sufficient outer-volume (OV) signal suppression. This is particularly true for 3D tailored RF pulses that excite an arbitrary 3D IV (e.g., a cylinder of finite height) thus enabling fast non-Cartesian readouts, as 3D IV pulses are more difficult to design than 2D tailored pulses. We propose to insert a 3D tailored OV suppression pulse to help suppress OV steady-state signal in 3D IV imaging sequences that use 3D tailored IV excitation pulses. We show that this strategy can substantially improve the IV signal profile for commonly used and emerging steady-state sequences such as spoiled gradient-echo (SPGR), balanced SSFP, and small-tip fast-recovery (STFR).
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