title: Early time points perfusion imaging.
abstract: The aim was to investigate the feasibility of making relative cerebral blood flow (rCBF) maps from MR images acquired with short TR by measuring the initial arrival amount of Gd-DTPA evaluated within a time window before any contrast agent has a chance to leave the tissue. We named this rCBF measurement technique utilizing the early data points of the Gd-DTPA bolus the "early time points" method (ET), based on the hypothesis that early time point signals were proportional to rCBF. Simulation data were used successfully to examine the ideal behavior of ET while monkey's MRI results offered encouraging support to the utility of ET for rCBF calculation. A better brain coverage for ET could be obtained by applying the Simultaneous Echo Refocusing (SER) EPI technique. A recipe to run ET was presented, with attention paid to the noise problem around the time of arrival (TOA) of the contrast agent.
authors.affiliation: MGH/MIT/HMS Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA. kwong@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Kenneth K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Kwong
authors.forename: Timothy G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Reese
authors.forename: Koen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nelissen
authors.forename: Ona
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Suk-Tak
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Benner
authors.forename: Joseph B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Mandeville
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Foley
authors.forename: Wim
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Vanduffel
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Chesler
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals
chemical_list: D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA