Recent Publication: Improving pulse design for ASL imaging at 7T

Hybrid adiabatic pulse with asymmetry (HAPY): An asymmetric adiabatic pulse with an application in pulsed arterial spin labeling at 7T

This study that proposes a new type of pulse called Hybrid Adiabatic Pulses with asYmmetry (HAPY) that can improve the effectiveness of arterial spin labeling (ASL) at ultra-high (7T) magnetic field strength. ASL is a technique used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure blood flow in the brain. However, the effectiveness of ASL at 7T is limited due to the high power deposition and inhomogeneity of the magnetic fields. The proposed HAPY pulse reduces the energy required for RF labeling and improves labeling efficiency under challenging magnetic field conditions. The study shows that using HAPY pulses in ASL at 7T improves temporal resolution and produces successful results in vivo.

The increased power deposition and inhomogeneity of and fields limit the application of ASL at 7T. A new type of asymmetric adiabatic pulses, Hybrid Adiabatic Pulses with asYmmetry (HAPY) along with its optimisation scheme, is proposed in this study. In simulation and phantom experiments, the proposed HAPY pulse demonstrates RF labelling pulse energy reduction and high labelling efficiency under challenging dB0 and B1+ conditions. In vivo experiments show the successful application of PICORE-PASL with HAPY labelling pulses in 7T ASL with increased temporal resolution.

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