Qin Qin1, 2, Alan J. Huang, 23, Jun Hua, 12, Robert Stevens4, John E. Desmond5, Peter C.M. van Zijl1, 2
1Department of Radiology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States; 2Kirby Center, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, United States; 3Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States; 4Department of Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States; 5Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States
Typically, cerebral blood flow (CBF) measurements using Pseudo-Continuous ASL (PCASL) are acquired at a single post-labeling delay assuming minimum difference of arterial arrival times (AAT) across regions. We performed 3D high-resolution whole-brain PCASL at multiple post-labeling delays and analyzed the data using a general kinetic model. Both voxel-based and ROI-based fitting results displayed a heterogeneous distribution of AAT in various regions. The PCASL measurements over a series of delays can help estimate CBF and ATT simultaneously, which will improve the accuracy of CBF quantification. Implementation of this approach (15 min) is demonstrated to be feasible on a 3T clinical scanner.