Removing the effects of CSF partial voluming on fitted CBF and arterial transit times using FAIR, a pulsed arterial spin labelling technique.
FAIR, an arterial spin labelling technique, provides non-invasive, quantitative CBF values and arterial transit times deltat. This paper focuses on the negative impact of CSF partial voluming on FAIR results. To understand and solve this problem, we performed a theoretical analysis and a range of simulations. We then acquired FAIR data from a volunteer to illustrate our findings. We found that the determinant effect of CSF is a delayed zero-crossing during inversion recovery. The subtraction of magnitude inversion recovery data in FAIR generates erroneous negative data and distorted fit results: we simulated that for CSF percentages of 0-40%, CBF and deltat will be progressively overestimated by up to 50%. For higher CSF percentages the errors were found to increase steeply. We explored a straightforward solution: taking the magnitude of the FAIR data before fitting. This provided a remarkably strong antidote against the effects of CSF partial voluming: for CSF percentages of 0-40%, simulations now gave CBF values accurate within 1%, and deltat within 5%. The fit remained robust for high CSF fractions. Our analysis and simulations demonstrate that using magnitude FAIR data minimises the detrimental effects of CSF partial voluming. Data from a healthy volunteer illustrate these results.
Wiersma
J
J
Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience, Institute of Neurology, London, UK. jonna_wiersma@hotmail.com
Deichmann
R
R
Ordidge
R
R
Turner
R
R
D016477:Artifacts; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000502:physiology*; D002536:Cerebral Arteries / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D002555:Cerebrospinal Fluid; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D013113:Spin Labels
D013113:Spin Labels