title: Estimating perfusion using microCT to locate microspheres.
abstract: The injection of microspheres into the blood stream has been a common method to measure the spatial distribution of blood flow (perfusion). A technique to conduct this kind of measurement in small animal organs is presented using silver-coated microspheres with a diameter of 16 microm and high-resolution computed tomography (microCT) to detect individual microspheres. Phantom experiments demonstrate the detectability of individual spheres. The distribution of microspheres within a rat heart is given as an example. Using non-destructive, three-dimensional imaging for microsphere detection avoids the cumbersome dissection of the organ into samples or slices and their subsequent registration. The detection of individual spheres allows high-resolution measurements of perfusion and arbitrary definition of regions of interest. These, in turn, allow for accurate statistical analysis of perfusion such as relative dispersion curves.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marxen
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Paget
authors.forename: L X
authors.initials: LX
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Henkelman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003326:Coronary Circulation; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D008863:Microspheres; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology; D010477:Perfusion; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D051381:Rats; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*