A novel sequence for Simultaneous imaging of cerebral Arteries and VEins (SAVE) based on velocity-selective arterial spin labeling

Motivation: The conventional velocity-selective ASL-based (VSASL) MRA couldn’t separate arteries and veins unless additional module is used, which would cause long scan time. In addition, its acquisition efficiency is low since a long waiting time for blood refreshing. Goal(s): To proposed a VSASL-based sequence for Simultaneous imaging of cerebral Arteries and VEins (SAVE). Approach: SAVE uses the waiting period between consecutive shots of VSASL MRA to acquire SWI data. VSASL MRA/MRV were obtained by subtracting Control images from Label images, while SWI images were averaged to increase SNR. Results: SAVE-VSASL MRA/MRV can well depict arteries and veins, and SAVE-SWI MRV could depict veins well. Impact: The novel sequence can obtain decent VSASL MRA/MRV and SWI MRV images. The combination of the VSASL MRA/MRV and SWI MRV in SAVE should allows separation of arteries and veins by post-processing, that may be useful in clinical settings.