Phase contrast (PC) imaging is commonly employed for mapping velocities in cerebral arteries. This requires a dedicated sequence along with acquisition of two sets of image data. In addition, PC imaging can be compromised by residual eddy currents, motion, selection of velocity encoding value (VENC) and imaging plane in relation to the vessel. In this work, a magnitude based method exploiting the inflow effect was employed to determine velocity in the carotid arteries. A standard 3D T1w SPGR sequence was used eschewing the need for a dedicated sequence. By measuring signal in ROIs at two locations of the artery and jugular vein, velocity independent of B1 inhomogeneity can be derived. The effect of B1+ field was also taken into account. It was shown that the velocity estimated with this technique shows significant correlation with PC based velocity while showing no significant differences in the right and left CAs in 12 volunteers.
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