Accelerating phase-cycled bSSFP using sparsity across the phase-cycling dimension

Banding artifacts in balanced steady state free precession images can be resolved by applying radiofrequency phase cycling. Unfortunately, the scan time increases linearly with the amount of phase cycles acquired, hindering clinical adoption of this sequence. We aimed to reduce the amount of phase cycles that need to be acquired by employing a signal model in an iterative reconstruction. Preliminary validation of this algorithm was performed in-silico and in a phantom. Results show excellent agreement in-silico (relative mean absolute error, RMAE, 0.0045%) and in phantom tubes with T1 and T2 values in the physiological range (RMAE 3-4%).