title: Distribution of cerebral blood flow in the nucleus caudatus, nucleus lentiformis, and thalamus: a study of territorial arterial spin-labeling MR imaging.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the effect of variations in anatomic features of the circle of Willis on the perfusion territory to deep structures, including the nucleus caudatus, the nucleus lentiformis, and the thalamus.
  
  
  METHODS
  The ethics committee of the study institution approved the study protocol. A total of 159 patients with first-time clinical symptoms of cerebral ischemia were recruited. Contributions to the perfusion territory were visualized with territorial arterial spin-labeling magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. The anatomic features of the circle of Willis were evaluated with time-of-flight MR angiography. Perfusion territory contributions were compared among circle of Willis variants by using the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The perfusion territory contributions to the deep-brain structures could be evaluated in 119 of 159 patients (75%). With a fetal-type circle of Willis (41 of 238 hemispheres; 17%), there was a contribution from the ipsilateral internal carotid artery to the thalamus in all 41 hemispheres (100%), compared with 96 of the 197 hemispheres (49%) without a fetal-type circle of Willis. In the 19 patients with a hypoplastic A1 segment, there was more often a contribution of the contralateral internal carotid artery to the perfusion of the nucleus caudatus (10 of 19; 53%) and the nucleus lentiformis (5 of 19; 26%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The perfusion territory contributions to deep-brain structures vary widely. These differences can be partly explained by variations in the anatomic features of the circle of Willis. (c) RSNA, 2010.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jeroen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hendrikse
authors.forename: Esben Thade
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Petersen
authors.forename: Soke Miang
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Chng
authors.forename: Narayanaswamy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Venketasubramanian
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Golay
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002421:Caudate Nucleus / Q000098:blood supply*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000098:blood supply*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D016014:Linear Models; D016015:Logistic Models; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013113:Spin Labels; D013788:Thalamus / Q000098:blood supply*
chemical_list: D013113:Spin Labels