An accurate noninvasive method to measure the hemoglobin oxygen saturation (%HbO 2 ) of deep-lying vessels without catheterization would have many clinical applications. Quantitative MRI may be the only imaging modality that can address this difficult and important problem. MR susceptometry-based oximetry for measuring blood oxygen saturation in large vessels models the vessel as a long paramagnetic cylinder immersed in an external field. The intravascular magnetic susceptibility relative to surrounding muscle tissue is a function of oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO 2 ) and can be quantified with a field-mapping pulse sequence. In this work, the method's accuracy and precision was investigated theoretically on the basis of an analytical expression for the arbitrarily oriented cylinder, as well as experimentally in phantoms and in vivo in the femoral artery and vein at 3T field strength. Errors resulting from vessel tilt, noncircularity of vessel cross-section, and induced magnetic field gradients were evaluated and methods for correction were designed and implemented. Hemoglobin saturation was measured at successive vessel segments, differing in geometry, such as eccentricity and vessel tilt, but constant blood oxygen saturation levels, as a means to evaluate measurement consistency. The average standard error and coefficient of variation of measurements in phantoms were <2% with tilt correction alone, in agreement with theory, suggesting that high accuracy and reproducibility can be achieved while ignoring noncircularity for tilt angles up to about 30°. In vivo, repeated measurements of %HbO 2 in the femoral vessels yielded a coefficient of variation of less than 5%. In conclusion, the data suggest that %HbO 2 can be measured Key words: magnetic resonance oximetry; blood oxygen saturation; phase imaging; demagnetizing field; magnetic resonance susceptometry Accurate noninvasive measurement of hemoglobin oxygen saturation (%HbO 2 ) of deep-lying vessels inaccessible to pulse oximetry would have many clinical applications. Among these are the quantification of global cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO 2 ) and the assessment of congenital heart defects in pediatric patients. Generally, both currently require catheterization procedures, which are invasive and carry risks. In the case of jugular bulb oximetry, the risks (1) include arterial puncture (between 1% and 4.5% has been reported in the literature), jugular vein occlusion from misplacement of catheter, and subclinical thrombosis, whose incidence rate is as high as 40%. Furthermore, accuracy is highly dependent on the position of the catheter against the vessel wall, and simultaneous measurement of both the left and right sides is not possible but important due to asymmetric venous drainage (2).Noninvasive quantification of blood oxygenation can be achieved with MRI by measuring T 2 (3) or T * 2 (4), or from a measurement of the relative susceptibility (5-7) of intravascular blood since all three quantities depend on the volume fraction of oxygenated hemoglobi...