ASL Lexicon and Reporting Recommendations - a consensus report from the ISMRM Open Science Initiative for Perfusion Imaging (OSIPI)

Aug 26, 2026

The ASL Lexicon and Reporting Recommendations manuscript develops standardized, consensus nomenclature and terminology for arterial spin labeling (ASL) perfusion MRI techniques, parameters, and required physiological constants. It is motivated by ongoing divergence in ASL methods and terminology after an earlier ISMRM consensus effort and the EU “ASL in Dementia” work, which can impair research reproducibility and interoperability. The report includes sequence and parameter guidance across (pseudo-)continuous, pulsed, velocity-selective, and multi-timepoint ASL.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages28

Reading Time1 h 11 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Keywords

1. Introduction

Author Manuscr ipt Author Manuscr ipt Author Manuscr ipt Author Manuscript | | HHS Public Access
Author manuscript
Magn Reson Med. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2025 May 01. | | --- | --- | Published in final edited form as: Magn Reson Med. 2024 May ; 91(5): 1743–1760. doi:10.1002/mrm.29815 . ASL Lexicon and Reporting Recommendations: a consensus report from the ISMRM Open Science Initiative for Perfusion Imaging (OSIPI) Yuriko Suzuki 1 , Patricia Clement2,3 , Weiying Dai4 , Sudipto Dolui5 , Maria FernándezSeara6,7 , Thomas Lindner8 , Henk JMM Mutsaerts9 , Jan Petr10 , Xingfeng Shao 11 , Manuel Taso 12 , David L Thomas 13 , ISMRM Perfusion Study Group 1Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, FMRIB, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK 2 Department of Medical Imaging, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium 3 Department of Diagnostic Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium 4State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, NY, USA 5 Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA 6 Department of Radiology, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain 7 IdiSNA, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain 8 University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany 9 Department of Radiology and Nuclear medicine, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam University Medical Center, the Netherlands, Amsterdam 10 Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Institute of Radiopharmaceutical Cancer Research, Dresden, Germany 11Laboratory of FMRI Technology (LOFT), Mark & Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA 12 Division of MRI Research, Department of Radiology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA 13 Department of Brain Repair and Rehabilitation, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK Abstract The 2015 consensus statement published by the ISMRM Perfusion Study Group and the EU COST Action ‘ASL in Dementia’ aimed to encourage the implementation of robust Arterial Spin Corresponding author: Yuriko Suzuki, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, FMRIB, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Headley Way, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DU, United Kingdom, [yuriko.suzuki@ndcn.ox.ac.uk](yuriko.suzuki@ndcn.ox.ac.uk). Author Manuscr ipt Author Manuscr ipt Author Manuscr ipt Author Manuscript Suzuki et al. Page 2 Labeling (ASL) perfusion MRI for clinical applications and promote consistency across scanner types, sites, and studies. Subsequently, the recommended 3D pseudo-continuous ASL sequence has been implemented by most major MRI manufacturers. However, ASL remains a rapidly and widely developing field, leading inevitably to further divergence of the technique and its associated terminology, which could cause confusion and hamper research reproducibility. On behalf of the ISMRM Perfusion Study Group, and as part of the ISMRM Open Science Initiative for Perfusion Imaging (OSIPI), the ASL Lexicon Task Force has been working on the development of an ‘ASL Lexicon and Reporting Recommendations’ for perfusion imaging and analysis, aiming to 1) develop standardized, consensus nomenclature and terminology for the broad range of ASL imaging techniques and parameters, as well as for the physiological constants required for quantitative analysis, and 2) provide a community-endorsed recommendation of the imaging parameters that we encourage authors to include when describing ASL methods in scientific reports/articles. In this manuscript, the sequences and parameters in (pseudo-)continuous ASL, pulsed ASL, velocity-selective ASL and multi-timepoint ASL for brain perfusion imaging are included. However, the content of the lexicon is not intended to be limited to these techniques

FAQs

Why are ASL lexicon and reporting recommendations needed?

ASL is a rapidly developing field and terminology varies across techniques and implementations, which can cause confusion and hinder research reproducibility and interoperability. Consistent reporting of acquisition parameters is essential for comparability across sites and studies.

What tasks does the ASL Lexicon Task Force focus on?

The task force develops standardized consensus nomenclature for ASL techniques and parameters, including physiological constants for quantitative analysis. It also provides community-endorsed guidance on imaging parameters to be included in scientific reports.

Which ASL approaches are covered in the manuscript?

The manuscript includes sequences and parameters for (pseudo-)continuous ASL, pulsed ASL, velocity-selective ASL, and multi-timepoint ASL for brain perfusion imaging.

Aug 26, 2026

Uploaded by Oliver Hayes