Increased precision in the intravascular arterial input function with flow compensation

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Publication date
2019Author(s)
Bourassa-Moreau, Benoit; Lebel, Réjean; Gilbert, Guillaume; Mathieu, David; Lepage, Martin
Editor(s)
Université de Sherbrooke. Centre d’imagerie moléculaire de Sherbrooke
MR Clinical Science, Philips Healthcare Canada (Markham, Ontario, Canada)
Université de Sherbrooke. Service de neurochirurgie
Subject
Dynamic susceptibility contrast MRIAbstract
Abstract: Purpose: In this study, we investigate the effects of pulsatile flow and inflow on dynamic susceptibility-contrast MRI (DSC-MRI) intravascular arterial input function (AIF) measurement in human brain arteries and measure how they are affected by first-order flow compensation (FC).
Methods: A dual-echo single-shot EPI sequence with alternating FC gradients was used to acquire DSC-MRI data with electrocardiogram monitoring. The dynamic signal variations measured inside the middle- (MCA) and internal cerebral arteries (ICA) was associated to the pulsatile arterial blood velocities measured with a single-slice quantitative flow sequence throughout the cardiac cycle.
Results: Major inverse correlations between intravascular signal and blood velocity were found for the standard SS-EPI sequence. FC reduces these correlated variations that contribute to signal physiological noise. It causes a significant two-fold increase of intravascular SNR in the MCA and the ICA, (2.3 ± 0.9, P = 0.03) and (2.0 ± 0.9, P = 0.04) respectively; and reduced phase standard deviation for the ICA (0.72 ± 0.14, P = 0.004). The correction proposed in this work translates into a quantitative AIF with reduced noise in the ICA.
Conclusion: The physiological noise added by pulsatile flow and inflow for intravascular AIF measurement in the brain arteries is significantly reduced by FC.
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