Simultaneous imaging of cerebral perfusion and blood-CSF exchange using dual-TE split echo train Fast-Spin-Echo Arterial Spin Labeling

The recent years have seen a growing interest in the study of brain waste clearance mechanisms, also referred to as glymphatics. Recently, ASL has been used to image choroid plexus perfusion but also the exchange between blood and CSF by taking advantage of the long CSF T2 compared to blood and brain tissue. We evaluate the possibility to measure this using reduced flip-angles FSE with variable-density k-space sampling, using a split echo-train strategy to collect in the same echo-train a short-TE PD-weighted as well as long-TE T2-weighted ASL datasets. We evaluate in a pilot group potential age-related differences.