In imaging a first species having a short T2 magnetic
resonance parameter in the presence of a second and third species having longer T2 parameters, a method of suppressing signals from the longer T2 species comprises the steps of: a) applying a RF
saturation pulse with multiple suppression bands for the second and third species to excite nuclei
spins of the longer T2 species with the magnitude of the RF pulse being sufficiently low so as not to excite nuclei
spins of the short T2 species, the RF
saturation pulse being sufficiently long to rotate the longer T2 species nuclei
spins into a
transverse plane, and b)
dephasing the longer T2 species nuclei spins in the
transverse plane. An imaging
pulse sequence is then applied to image the short T2 species. Alternatively, the method can comprise the steps of a) applying a first
inversion pulse for selective inverting species of the second longer T2 species, b) obtaining first image signals after step a, c) applying a second
inversion pulse for selectively inverting species of the third longer T2 species, d) obtaining second image signals after step c), and e) combining the first image signals and the second
image signal to image the first short T2 species with the longer second and third species cancelling in the combination. In each of these methods, either the second or third longer T2 species can be suppressed without suppressing the other by applying the RF saturation or
inversion pulse only to the species to be suppressed.