Multibolus stimulated echo imaging of coronary artery flow

One limitation of traditional bolus tagging techniques for MR angiography is the small amount of blood labeled by one tagging, resulting in a limited filling of the downstream vessels. We describe a multiple bolus technique using stimulated echoes (STE) for imaging coronary flow. A series of radiofrequency (RF) pairs are given with each pair selective at the region of tagging, thus tagging consecutive volumes of blood, and a final nonselective pulse is given to “read out” all of the tagged spins. In this way, multiple boluses of tagged blood are imaged at one time.