Comparison of relative cerebral blood flow maps using pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling and single photon emission computed tomography

Peiying Liu, Jinsoo Uh, Michael D. Devous, Bryon Adinoff, Hanzhang Lu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

Pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (PCASL) MRI is a relatively new arterial spin labeling technique and has the potential to extend the cerebral blood flow (CBF) measurement to all tissue types, including white matter. However, the arterial transit time (δ a) for white matter is not well established and a limited number of reports using multi-delay methods have yielded inconsistent findings. In this study, we used a different approach and measured white matter δ a (mean±standard deviation, 1541±173ms) by determining the arrival times of exogenous contrast agent in a bolus tracking experiment. The data also confirmed δ a of gray matter to be 912±209ms. In the second part of this study, we used these parameters in PCASL kinetic models and compared relative CBF (rCBF, with respect to the whole brain) maps with those measured using a single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) technique. It was found that the use of tissue-specific δ a in the PCASL model was helpful in improving the correspondence between the two modalities. On a regional level, the gray/white matter CBF ratios were 2.47±0.39 and 2.44±0.18 for PCASL and SPECT, respectively. On a single-voxel level, the variance between the modalities was still considerable, with an average rCBF difference of 0.27.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)779-786
Number of pages8
JournalNMR in biomedicine
Volume25
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2012

Keywords

  • Arterial spin labeling
  • Cerebral blood flow
  • Contrast agent
  • PCASL
  • Perfusion
  • SPECT

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Molecular Medicine
  • Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging
  • Spectroscopy

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