System and method for T1 relaxation enhanced steady-state MRI

A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system comprising:

• a magnet system configured to generate a polarizing magnetic field about at least a portion of a subject;
• a plurality of gradient coils configured to apply at least one gradient field to the polarizing magnetic field;
• a radio frequency (RF) system configured to apply an excitation field to the subject and to receive MR data from the subject;
• and
• a computer system programmed to:
• perform, using the MRI system, a steady-state pulse sequence to acquire MR data from a region of interest in the subject, the steady-state pulse sequence comprising a contrast-modifying (CM) radio frequency (RF) pulse for T1-weighting applied periodically at a predetermined time interval throughout an acquisition of a plurality of echo signals using a plurality of imaging RF pulses, the CM RF pulse applied at each predetermine time interval prior to acquisition of at least two of the plurality of echo signals, and the CM RF pulse having a flip angle with a value determined based on a minimum Ernst angle for a set of one or more background tissues in the region of interest that the CM RF pulse is configured to suppress with respect to a tissue of interest;
• and
• generate an image with T1 contrast based on the acquired MR data.