Limit of Detection of Localized Absolute Changes in CBF Using Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL) MRI

Iris Asllani¹, Ajna Borogovac, Truman R. Brown, Joy Hirsch, John W. Krakauer

In Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL) MRI, the partial volume effects (PVE) are exacerbated by the nonlinear dependency of the ASL signal on voxel tissue heterogeneity. We have developed a method that corrects for PVE in ASL. The method is based on a model that represents the voxel intensity as a weighted sum of pure tissue contribution where the weighting coefficients are the tissues fractional volume in the voxel. Here we show the feasibility of this method to quantify absolute changes in CBF. Results from data simulation as well as experimental model from stroke are presented.