Optimization of Pulsed Saturation Transfer MR Fingerprinting (ST MRF) Acquisition Using the Cramér–Rao Bound and Sequential Quadratic Programming

• Published in: Magnetic resonance in medicine
• Main Authors: Vladimirov, Nikita, Zaiss, Moritz, Perlman, Or
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 18.10.2025
• Subjects: quantitative MRI; MR Fingerprinting; CEST; optimization; MT
• ISSN: 0740-3194; 1522-2594; 1522-2594
• DOI: 10.1002/mrm.70141

To develop a method for optimizing pulsed saturation transfer MR fingerprinting (ST MRF) acquisition. The Cramér-Rao bound (CRB) for variance assessment was employed on Bloch-McConnell-based simulated signals, followed by a numerical sequential quadratic programming optimization and basin-hopping avoidance of local minima. Validation was performed using L-arginine phantoms and healthy human volunteers at 3T while restricting the scan time to be less than 40 s. The proposed optimization approach resulted in a significantly improved agreement with reference standard values in vivo, compared to baseline non-optimized protocols (8% lower NRMSE, 7% higher SSIM, and 15% higher Pearson's r value, ). The combination of the CRB with sequential quadratic programming and a rapid Bloch-McConnell simulator offers a means for optimizing and accelerating pulsed CEST and semisolid magnetization transfer (MT) MRF acquisition.