Time-efficient determination of spin compartments by time-encoded pCASL T2-relaxation-under-spin-tagging and its application in hemodynamic characterization of the cerebral border zones

Sophie Schmid, Wouter M. Teeuwisse, Hanzhang Lu, Matthias J P van Osch

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

Information on water-transport across the blood-brain barrier can be determined from the T2 of the arterial spin labeling (ASL) signal. However, the current approach of using separate acquisitions of multiple inversion times is too time-consuming for clinical (research) applications. The aim of this study was to improve the time-efficiency of this method by combining it with time-encoded pseudo-continuous ASL (te-pCASL). Furthermore, the hemodynamic properties of the border zone regions in the brains of healthy, young volunteers were characterized as an example application.The use of te-pCASL instead of multi-TI pCASL significantly reduced the total scan duration, while providing a higher temporal resolution. A significantly lower cerebral blood flow (CBF) was found in the border zone regions compared with the central regions in both the posterior and the middle cerebral artery (MCA) flow territory. The arterial transit time (ATT) was almost two times longer in the border zone regions than in the central regions (p<0.05), with an average delay in ATT of 382ms in the posterior and 539ms in the MCA flow territory. When corrected for the ATT, the change in T2 over time was not significantly different for the border zones as compared to the central regions.In conclusion, te-pCASL-TRUST provided a time-efficient method to distinguish spin compartments based on their T2. The ATT in the border zone is significantly longer than in the central region. However, the exchange of the label from the arterial to the tissue compartment appears to be at a similar rate.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)72-79
Number of pages8
JournalNeuroImage
Volume123
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2015

Keywords

  • Arterial transit time
  • Border zone regions
  • Cerebral blood flow
  • Spin compartment
  • T relaxation
  • Time-encoded arterial spin labeling MRI

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Neurology
  • Cognitive Neuroscience

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