Improved 2D slice-interleaved flow-independent cardiac black blood imaging using Ferumoxytol

Background Double inversion recovery (DIR) is the most commonly used black blood (BB) preparation method. However its single slice nature makes the acquisition inefficient and flow-dependence causes insufficient blood suppression when stagnant blood or in-plane blood flow is present. In this work, we propose to use ferumoxytol, an FDA approved iron oxide particle for treating iron deficiency anemia, as an MR contrast agent to achieve flow-independent BB imaging by taking advantage of its strong