Xing Lv1, Jing Wang2, Yudong Zhang3, Jue Zhang1, Xiaoying Wang3, Xiaoping Hu4, Jing Fang1
1College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, China; 2Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing, China; 3Dept. of Radiology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China; 4Biomedical Imaging Technology Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States
Among all kinds of arterial spin labeling (ASL) techniques for multi-slice perfusion imaging, Continuous ASL with a separate coil (or Dual-coil CASL) has been proven to have the best SNR with eliminated magnetic transfer interference. However, Most implementations of Dual-Coil CASL(DC-CASL) in previous reports require two independent sets of proton RF channel and amplifier, which are not currently available on most clinical MRI scanners. In this study, a portable RF transmitter, which is based on a single chip microcomputer (SCM)+ Direct Digital Synthesizer (DDS) structure, designed and tested for non-invasive perfusion imaging in clinic. The quantitative CBF measurement results testified the feasibility of this setup. With its high quality imaging, minimized size and low cost, the separated coil based CASL setup may be valuable for further clinical usage.