title: Noncontrast-enhanced three-dimensional (3D) intracranial MR angiography using pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling and accelerated 3D radial acquisition.
abstract: Pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling (PCASL) can be used to generate noncontrast magnetic resonance angiograms of the cerebrovascular structures. Previously described PCASL-based angiography techniques were limited to two-dimensional projection images or relatively low-resolution three-dimensional (3D) imaging due to long acquisition time. This work proposes a new PCASL-based 3D magnetic resonance angiography method that uses an accelerated 3D radial acquisition technique (VIPR, spoiled gradient echo) as the readout. Benefiting from the sparsity provided by PCASL and noise-like artifacts of VIPR, this new method is able to obtain submillimeter 3D isotropic resolution and whole head coverage with a 8-min scan. Intracranial angiography feasibility studies in healthy (N = 5) and diseased (N = 5) subjects show reduced saturation artifacts in PCASL-VIPR compared with a standard time-of-flight protocol. These initial results show great promise for PCASL-VIPR for static, dynamic, and vessel selective 3D intracranial angiography.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53705-2275, USA. hwu7@wisc.edu
authors.forename: Huimin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Walter F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Block
authors.forename: Patrick A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Turski
authors.forename: Charles A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Mistretta
authors.forename: Kevin M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D002536:Cerebral Arteries / Q000473:pathology*; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000473:pathology*; D003287:Contrast Media; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013113:Spin Labels
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D013113:Spin Labels