Arterial spin labeling for cerebral perfusion and angiography

Journal article

Arterial spin labeling (ASL) is an MRI technique that was first proposed a quarter of a century ago. It offers the prospect of non-invasive quantitative measurement of cerebral perfusion, making it potentially very useful for research and clinical studies, particularly where multiple longitudinal measurements are required. However, it has suffered from a number of challenges, including a relatively low signal-to-noise ratio, and a confusing number of sequence variants, thus hindering its clinical uptake. Recently, however, there has been a consensus adoption of an accepted acquisition and analysis framework for ASL, and thus a better penetration onto clinical MRI scanners. Here, we review the basic concepts in ASL, and describe the current state-of-the-art acquisition and analysis approaches, and the versatility of the method to perform both quantitative cerebral perfusion measurement, along with quantitative cerebral angiographic measurement.

Authors: Jezzard, P; Chappell, M; Okell, T

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Journal: Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism
• Volume: 38
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 603-626
• Publication date: 2017-11-23
• Acceptance date: 2017-10-30
• DOI: 10.1177/0271678X17743240
• EISSN: 1559-7016
• ISSN: 0271-678X
• Keywords: arterial spin labeling; MRI; perfusion imaging; angiography