Quantitative BOLD With Interleaved Acquisitions for Estimation of Extravascular $$$R_2’$$$ and Intravascular $$$R_2$$$ With Phase-Sensitive CSF Suppression

In the qBOLD technique, the accuracy of local deoxygenated blood volume and hemoglobin oxygen saturation (Y_v) maps is potentially degraded due to high coupling of the two parameters in the model. As an alternative, the QUIXOTIC method measures local Y_v by selectively capturing venular spins via T₂-prepared velocity-selective-spin-labeling. However, CSF signals, if not suppressed, may impair accuracy of venular blood T₂ estimation. In this work, extravascular R₂’ and intravascular R₂ mapping methods are interleaved to reduce estimation uncertainty in the qBOLD model while the accuracy of preliminary venular T₂ estimates from the latter is further enhanced via phase-sensitive CSF suppression.