MR Cerebral Angiography Using Arterial Spin Labeling for Dynamic Inflow Visualization and Vessel Selectivity

Introduction: Digital subtraction X-ray angiography (DSA) is a widely used technique for the characterization of cerebral vessels. While MRI and CT can, in principle, provide angiographic information that could replace the riskier DSA study, which requires placement of a catheter for localized contrast injection and high doses of X-ray, these techniques typically lack the vessel selectivity and temporal resolution of DSA. Though arterial spin labeling MRI has primarily been used for perfusion imaging, recent developments including arterial selective imaging have made possible MR angiographic acquisitions with flexible labeling of arterial blood within feeding arterial vessels. Here we present the use of selective arterial spin labeling methods combined with balancedSSFP acquisition to provide an MR angiographic exam more similar to DSA.