MR imaging with pre-sequence including plural saturation pulses

A magnetic resonance imaging system for obtaining an MR (magnetic resonance) angiography image of an imaging slice of a subject, said system comprising:

• a magnet for generating a static magnetic field into a space in which the subject is placed;
• a gradient generation unit for generating via gradient coils slice, phase-encoding, and read-out magnetic gradients superimposed on the static magnetic field;
• a transmission/reception unit including an RF coil transmitting to the subject a spin-exciting RF signal and receiving MR signals emanated from the subject;
• a reconstruction unit for reconstructing the image based on the MR signals received by the reception unit;
• and
• a sequencer for performing a scan sequence of pulses through control of the gradient generation unit and the transmission/reception unit,
• wherein the scan sequence of pulses is formed for sequentially producing:
• a pre-sequence including a plurality of saturation pulses applied sequentially in time to the same pre-saturated slice which is positionally different from the imaging slice concurrently with at least a slice gradient pulse for slice-selecting the pre-saturated slice, said plurality of saturation pulses providing an MT effect;
• and
• a data acquisition sequence applied to the imaging slice, after application of the pre-sequence for acquiring MR signals from the imaging slice.

A method of imaging obtaining an MR (magnetic resonance) angiography image of an imaging slice of a subject, said method comprising:

• first, performing a pre-sequence including a plurality of saturation pulses applied sequentially in time to the same pre-saturated slice which is selected to be positionally different from the imaging slice said plurality of saturation pulses providing an MT effect;
• second, thereafter performing a data acquisition sequence for acquiring MR signals from the imaging slice;
• and
• producing the angiography image using the acquired MR signals.