System and method for magnetization-prepared three-dimensional unbalanced steady-state free precession magnetic resonance imaging

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 a magnetization preparation module to control tissue contrast for a region of interest in the subject;
• after a predetermined period of time, perform a three dimensional (3D) unbalanced steady-state free precession (uSSFP) pulse sequence to acquire MR data from the region of interest in the subject, the 3D uSSFP pulse sequence configured to suppress blood signal in the region of interest;
• and
• generate an image with blood signal suppression based on the acquired MR data.