Eidrees Ghariq1, Michael A. Chappell2, 3, Sophie Schmid1, Wouter M. Teeuwisse1, Mark A. van Buchem1, Andrew G. Webb1, Matthias J.P. van Osch1
1C.J.Gorter Center for High Field MRI, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands; 2Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom; 3FMRIB Centre, University of Oxford, Oxford,, United Kingdom
Dual-echo arterial spin labeling (DE-ASL) facilitates simultaneous acquisition of BOLD and perfusion-weighted fMRI data. Background suppression (BGS) modules are designed to improve the low intrinsic ASL SNR, but are believed to be undesirable in DE-ASL, because they could decrease BOLD functional sensitivity. In this study, the effects of BGS-pulses on the sensitivity of DE-ASL for BOLD and CBF signal changes were studied. BGS levels of up to 90% were achieved, thereby increasing CBF sensitivity significantly, while loss in BOLD sensitivity remained small, suggesting the possibility of DE-ASL fMRI with BGS.