Yuriko Suzuki

My research focuses on the development of novel non-invasive dynamic MR Angiography (MRA) techniques using Arterial Spin Labelling (ASL) MRI. ASL enables the visualization of arterial flow by labelling the magnetization of arterial blood using radiofrequency (RF) pulses. The labelled arterial blood acts as an endogenous tracer, allowing ASL to be used for dynamic MRA without relying on the use of contrast agents. Although such non-invasive ASL-based dynamic MRA is not considered a complete replacement for X-ray Digital Subtraction Angiography (DSA) at the moment, many technological innovations have been proposed in the last decade, aiming at providing a non-invasive and non-contrast-enhanced alternative examination. The use of ASL for dynamic MRA gives further potential and advantages over the contrast-enhanced (CE) dynamic MRA. The most important advantage of ASL-based dynamic MRA is the ability to achieve vessel-selective visualization, in which the vascular tree originating from a selected artery can be exclusively visualized by spatially selective labelling. Such vessel-selective visualization is an important requirement as a potential alternative technique to X-ray DSA for diagnostic purpose, which is not achieved by any other MRA methods. Additionally, ASL-based dynamic MRA can achieve both higher spatial and temporal resolution than CE dynamic MRA.