Practical Investigation of Pseudo-Continuous Arterial Spin Labeling (PCASL) Feasibility at Very High Field (11.75T)

Guillaume Duhamel¹, Virginie Callot¹, Patrick J. Cozzone¹, Frank Kober¹

A new strategy for continuous arterial spin labeling using pulsed RF and gradient fields (pCASL) has recently been developed for human studies, showing SNR advantages. pCASL should be in principle also a method of choice for small animal studies. However, its feasibility as well as its SNR advantages over pulsed ASL techniques at very high field remains to be demonstrated. In particular, the labeling efficiency is expected to be challenged by short blood T2 values and hardware constraints. This work presents a practical investigation of pCASL implementation and feasibility at very high field (11.75T) for mouse brain perfusion studies.