A 36 month assessment of ASL reproducibility using a commercial perfusion phantom

Motivation: During longitudinal studies it is important to ensure quality assurance of MRI data. Here we use a commercially available perfusion phantom for QA of ASL in a 40-patient placebo-control study. Goal(s): The goal of this study was to assess the utility of a perfusion phantom for QA of ASL MRI in a clinical trial setting. Approach: Inversion recovery T1 measurements and pseudo-continuous ASL at 3 different phantom flow rates were scanned periodically on a 3T MRI system over a 36 month period. Results: Once data due to errant phantom behaviour was discounted, the QA metric of labelling efficiency was in a reasonable range. Impact: By acquiring independent T1 measures of the phantom’s perfusate, then computing ASL perfusion maps and comparing against the phantom’s pump flow rate, a useful QA metric can be established that can provide confidence in acquired subject ASL data.