Selective Labeling of Moving Spins Using Parallel 3D Spatially Selective Excitation

Johannes T. Schneider¹, ², Wolfgang Ruhm¹, Sarah R. Herrmann¹, Martin Haas², Jrgen Hennig², Peter Ullmann¹

This study presents the use of parallel excitation (PEX) for selective labeling of moving spins. In a multi-tube phantom the spins of one particular tube were labeled by 3D spatially-selective saturation in a short tube-segment. The difference to a control image acquired without labeling depicts the labeled tubes moving spins exclusively thus demonstrating the largely sufficient PEX performance for this type of applications. With the same technique, the course and mixing properties of different flow components were observed in a Y-shaped tube-junction. Compared to other labeling techniques, 3D-PEX provides an unprecedented grade of flexibility and specificity regarding the labeling volume.