Dr Anagha Joshi*, Dr Ashwini Sankhe, Dr Madhura Bayaskar and Dr Sanket Zarekar

Department of Radiology, Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College and General Hospital, Sion, Mumbai, India

*Corresponding Author: Dr Ashwini Sankhe, Department of Radiology, Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College and General Hospital, Sion, Mumbai, India.

Received: January 19, 2023; Published: April 17, 2023

Abstract

Arterial spin labeling (ASL) is an MRI perfusion technique which helps in non-invasive assessment of the cerebral blood flow (CBF). It is a technique that uses the labeled protons in the arterial blood as an endogenous tracer. Assessment of the perfusion plays a vital role in evaluation of various brain pathologies like neoplasms. Various techniques are available for assessment of the perfusion such as DSC MRI, CT perfusion imaging, SPECT, H2[15O] PET etc. which are invasive and require administration of the exogenous contrast media or use of ionizing radiation. In the recent years, ASL has become an easily available imaging technique due to advances in the technology related to image acquisition, post processing software’s and therefore with an increasing spectrum of ASL applications in various neurological pathologies such as stroke, transient ischemic attack, seizures, migraine, neoplasm, headaches and neuropsychiatric diseases such as Alzheimer’s dementia and Parkinson’s disease.
ASL can provide important physiological information which cannot be provided by the conventional MRI. Knowledge of the perfusion characteristics of brain and brain lesions is important as it may be helpful in providing a specific diagnosis or important physiological information which can be difficult to interpret on anatomic imaging or can be crucial in-patient management. The absence of irradiation, or the exogenous injection of the contrast media and no need of IV access, as well as its property to quantify CBF and reproduce the findings makes ASL an important noninvasive perfusion technique especially in patients with impaired renal functions where injection of contrast media is contraindicated. Moreover, with advances in imaging techniques and post processing soft wares, the spectrum of ASL applications has been increasing in various neurological disorders.

Keywords: Spectrum; Arterial Spin Labelling (ASL); MRI

References

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Citation

Citation: Anagha Joshi., et al. “Spectrum of Arterial Spin Labelling (ASL) and MRI Applications in Neuroimaging-Preliminary Experience". Acta Scientific Neurology 6.5 (2023): 19-30.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2023 Anagha Joshi., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.