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Pulsed arterial spin labelling at ultra-high field with a B +1 -optimised adiabatic labelling pulse

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Abstract

Objective

Arterial spin labelling (ASL) techniques benefit from the increased signal-to-noise ratio and the longer T 1 relaxation times available at ultra-high field. Previous pulsed ASL studies at 7 T concentrated on the superior regions of the brain because of the larger transmit radiofrequency inhomogeneity experienced at ultra-high field that hinders an adequate inversion of the blood bolus when labelling in the neck. Recently, researchers have proposed to overcome this problem with either the use of dielectric pads, through dedicated transmit labelling coils, or special adiabatic inversion pulses.

Materials and methods

We investigate the performance of an optimised time-resampled frequency-offset corrected inversion (TR-FOCI) pulse designed to cause inversion at much lower peak B +1 . In combination with a PICORE labelling, the perfusion signal obtained with this pulse is compared against that obtained with a FOCI pulse, with and without dielectric pads.

Results

Mean grey matter perfusion with the TR-FOCI was 52.5 ± 10.3 mL/100 g/min, being significantly higher than the 34.6 ± 2.6 mL/100 g/min obtained with the FOCI pulse. No significant effect of the dielectric pads was observed.

Conclusion

The usage of the B +1 -optimised TR-FOCI pulse results in a significantly higher perfusion signal. PICORE–ASL is feasible at ultra-high field with no changes to operating conditions.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Don Maillet and Rients Lootsma for their technical support with the scanner and the dielectric pads. MB acknowledges funding from Australian Research Council Future Fellowship Grant FT140100865. SB acknowledges funding from UQ Postdoctoral Research Fellowship grant. The authors acknowledge the facilities of the National Imaging Facility at the Centre for Advanced Imaging, University of Queensland and Siemens Healthcare Pty Ltd, Australia for development of the research prototype sequence.

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Author notes

    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Centre for Advanced Imaging, The University of Queensland, Building 57, Research Road, St. Lucia, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia

      Fabian Zimmer, Kieran O’Brien, Steffen Bollmann & Markus Barth

    2. Computer Assisted Clinical Medicine, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany

      Fabian Zimmer

    3. Siemens Healthcare Pty Ltd, Brisbane, Australia

      Kieran O’Brien

    4. Siemens Healthcare, Application Development, Erlangen, Germany

      Josef Pfeuffer

    5. Siemens Healthcare, Boston, MA, USA

      Keith Heberlein

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    1. Fabian Zimmer
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    Correspondence to Markus Barth.

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    All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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    F. Zimmer and K. O’Brien contributed equally to this work.

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    Zimmer, F., O’Brien, K., Bollmann, S. et al. Pulsed arterial spin labelling at ultra-high field with a B +1 -optimised adiabatic labelling pulse. Magn Reson Mater Phy 29, 463–473 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10334-016-0555-2

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