Clinical feasibility of contrast-enhanced ASL for blood-brain barrier water exchange rate measurements

Contrast-enhanced ASL (CE-ASL) has been proposed as a method for measuring blood-brain barrier water exchange, and is a technique that could be used in conjunction with DCE/DSC-MRI to provide complementary information on brain vasculature. We demonstrate in this work the clinical feasibility and consistency of the CE-ASL technique in simulations and in healthy volunteers. Using simulations, we characterise the expected accuracy and precision of parameter estimates. We then evaluate the consistency of CE-ASL measurements across six healthy volunteers.