Probing Arterial Spin Labeling MR Signal in Human Brain with T1ρ Technique

Xiang He¹, Kyongtae Ty Bae¹

Tracking arterial spin labeled (ASL) water in the human brain provides key information on the dynamics of water exchange and brain perfusion measured by PET and MR imaging. In this study, we used the T1ρ characteristic of ASL signal to investigate the labeled water compartment structure. Our result is in agreement with PASL T2* studies and is consistent with the results from other PASL studies for flow quantification. We postulate that the discrepancy between the T1ρ PASL and T2 pCASL may be due to the difference between their techniques, and PASL technique provides more accurate information on water compartmental structure.