Abstract

Motivation: Labeling efficiency in pCASL suffers from an inferior drop-off in B1+ leading to low SNR perfusion-weighted images which can affect CBF quantification. Goal(s): To assess the feasibility of pCASL in healthy volunteers using a custom-built head and neck coil at 7T. Approach: Volunteers were scanned with pCASL on two coils: a normal head coil and a head and neck coil with circularly polarized shim weights, and the results were compared in terms of CBF and tSNR. Results: pCASL in healthy volunteers using a novel neurovascular coil at 7T gave an average GM/WM CBF ratio of 1.51, comparable to a conventional head coil. Impact: This proof-of-concept study shows the feasibility of pCASL using a novel 8TxRx56Rx neurovascular (head and neck) coil at 7T and compares the performance against a conventional 8Tx64Rx head coil.