Abstract
A noninvasive, robust, and reproducible method to measure renal perfusion is important to understand the physiology of kidney. Arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI technique labels the endogenous blood water as freely diffusible tracers to measure perfusion quantitatively without relying on exogenous contrast agent. Therefore, it alleviates the safety concern involving gadolinium chelates. To obtain quantitative tissue perfusion information is particularly relevant for multisite and longitudinal imaging of living subjects.This chapter is based upon work from the PARENCHIMA COST Action, a community-driven network funded by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) program of the European Union, which aims to improve the reproducibility and standardization of renal MRI biomarkers. This experimental protocol chapter is complemented by two separate chapters describing the basic concept and data analysis.
Highlights
Arterial spin labeling (ASL) is a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method for measuring tissue perfusion [1, 2]
The term perfusion refers to the delivery of blood to capillary beds, and is quantified by the amount of blood delivered to the tissue per unit time, per unit volume or mass of tissue
The principle of ASL-MRI is to label the arterial blood as an endogenous diffusible tracer
Summary
Arterial spin labeling (ASL) is a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method for measuring tissue perfusion [1, 2]. The labeled blood, loses its contrast on its way to kidney tissue within a few seconds due to the T1 relaxation of blood This makes ASL only suitable for probing renal perfusion, but not later processes in the kidney such as glomerular filtration. Its principle is illustrated in the chapter by Ku M-C et al “Noninvasive Renal Perfusion Measurement Using Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL) MRI: Basic Concept.”. In this technique, two acquisitions with different inversions are alternatingly applied: one acquisition with selective inversion of a slab that is slightly larger than the imaging slice (no labeling of in-flowing blood) and a second acquisition with global inversion of all blood within the RF coil (nonselective inversion).
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