Optimizing Perfusion Imaging of PTILT in the Presence of Magnetic Field Inhomogeneity

Cheng Ouyang^1,2, Brad P. Sutton^1,2

Pseudo-continuous transfer insensitive labeling technique (pTILT) is a novel pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling method, which employs non-adiabatic saturation RF pulses for tagging. However, magnetic field inhomogeneities, can compromise the labeling efficacy of pTILT, which induces loss in signal-to-noise ratio and perfusion quantification errors. We propose a method to restore the signal loss by correcting the field inhomogeneity effects through the use of variable phase offsets in the tagging RF pulse pairs. Simulation and in vivo results are shown to demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach. This will provide more robust perfusion measures than the conventional pTILT technique.