Abstract： Objective To investigate balanced steady-state free precession with flow-sensitive dephasing magnetization preparation (FSD-bSSFP) in the assessment of arteries of foot in diabetic patients.Methods The lower-extremity peripheral arteries of 43 diabetic patients were evaluated by FSD-bSSFP no contrast MRA and contrast-enhanced MRA (CE-MRA)in. Two experienced observers assessed the image quality, degree of venous contaminated and visibility of pedal artery branches by FSD-bSSFP and CE-MRA respectively in consensus. The signal intensity( SI), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of the source images of both groups were measured and Wilcoxon and t tests were performed. Results The image score of FSD-bSSFP group was 2.7 ± 1.1 and CE-MRA was 2.6 ± 0.8, there was no statistical difference ( Z = 0. 134, P ＞ 0. 05 ). The image score of demonstration of the pedal artery branches and degree of venous contamination on FSD-bSSFP were 3.2 ± 0. 9 and 1.8 ± 0. 4 respectively which were superior to that of CE-MRA (2.5 ± 0.9 and 2.1 ± 0.8 respectively). Significant statistical difference existed between the two groups in demonstration of pedal artery branches ( Z = 5.246, P ＜ 0.05 ) and degree of venous contamination (Z =2.541 ,P ＜0.05). SNR of FSD-bSSFP was 148.6 ±26.7, CNR was 88.3 ± 19.0. SNR of CE-MRA was 148.5 ± 45.6, CNR was 121.0 ± 41.0. No statistical difference existed between SNR between two methods (t = 0.013, P ＞ 0.05 ). But CNR of CE-MRA was superior to that of FSD-bSSFP and significant statistical difference existed between these two methods ( t = 5.113, P ＜ 0.01 ). Conclusion FSD-bSSFP without contrast could be used in the evaluation of foot arteries in patients of renal dysfunction and diabetes.