Arterial spin labeling MRI

While arterial spin labeling (ASL) has developed from a preclinical research sequence to a standardized clinical sequence, acquisition techniques still differ between MRI scanners, vendors, and laboratories to accommodate ASL's intrinsically low SNR. Although ASL's image processing essentially revolves around a control-label image subtraction, proper quantification and interpretation of ASL CBF images require knowledge of the interaction of brain physiology with acquisition and image processing methods. This chapter provides an overview of the acquisition and image processing basics of clinical ASL to measure cerebral blood flow (CBF). We specifically discuss cerebrovascular, oncology, neurodegenerative, epilepsy, and pediatric applications. We end this chapter by describing novel ASL research that we believe is promising for future clinical use.