System and methods for active suppression of superior tagging in flow-sensitive alternating inversion recovery

A system for active suppression of labeled venous blood signals in magnetic resonance imaging, the system comprising:

• an image capture device comprising:
• magnet;
• one or more gradient coils;
• and
• one or more RF coils;
• and
• a controller unit configured to cause the image capture device to:
• perform a labeling experiment;
• capture a first image of a slice of body tissue;
• perform a control experiment;
• capture a second image of the slice of body tissue;
• perform a ninety (90) degree RF saturation pulse directed to a portion of body tissue that is superior to one of the first slices of body tissue imaged during at least one of the labeling experiment and the control experiment;
• and
• apply a spoiler gradient subsequent to the saturation pulse during at least one of the labeling experiment and the control experiment.

A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having computer usable program code executable to perform operations for active suppression of labeled venous blood signals in magnetic resonance imaging, the operations of the computer program product comprising:

• performing a labeling experiment;
• capturing a first image of a slice of body tissue;
• performing a control experiment;
• capturing a second image of the slice of body tissue;
• performing a ninety (90) degree RF saturation pulse directed to a portion of body tissue that is superior to one of the first slices of body tissue imaged during at least one of the labeling experiment and the control experiment;
• and
• applying a spoiler gradient subsequent to the saturation pulse during at least one of the labeling experiment and the control experiment.