Detecting cerebral microvascular pulsation using cardiac-synchronized pCASL with segmented stack-of-star golden-angle radial bSSFP readout

Motivation: There is a lack of techniques in directly imaging microvascular flow pulsation, which, however, plays an important role in driving interstitial fluid to move along the wall of arterioles for efficient brain waste removal. Goal(s): To develop an efficient and flexible dynamic pCASL technique for directly imaging microvascular pulsation. Approach: A dynamic pCASL with segmented stack-of-stars golden-angle radial acquisition was developed to image the microvascular pulsation by retrospectively synchronizing the radial spokes with the heartbeat and binned into multiple cardiac phases to yield the signal pulsation. Results: Our results demonstrated the feasibility and efficiency of measuring the microvascular pulsatility using the proposed technique. Impact: We developed an efficient non-invasive MRI technique for imaging cerebral microvascular pulsatility, which could provide a useful imaging tool to directly study microvascular dynamics and their role in the glymphatic system.