title: Reliability of three-dimensional pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling MR imaging for measuring visual cortex perfusion on two 3T scanners.
abstract: Cerebral blood flow (CBF) in the human primary visual cortex is correlated with the loss of visual function in neuro-ophthalmological diseases. Advanced three-dimensional pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (3D pCASL), as a non-invasive method to access the CBF, can be a novel measurement to detect the visual cortex. The objective of the study was to assess the intra- and inter-scanner reliability of 3D pCASL of the visual cortex in healthy adults and suggest the selection of different post-labeling delay times (PLDs). For this reason, 3D pCASL was conducted in two 3.0T MR three times with twelve healthy volunteers at an interval of 10-15 days. The 1st and 3rd tests were performed on scanner-1, and the 2nd test was performed on scanner-2. The value of the CBF was abstracted from the visual cortex with two PLDs. The intra- and inter-scanner reliability and reproducibility were evaluated with the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Bland-Altman plots. By estimating the mean value of the CBF in the visual cortex, the intra-scanner results demonstrated the higher reliability (ICC for PLD = 1.5 second presented at 0.743 compared with 0.829 for PLD = 2.5 seconds), and the Bland-Altman plots showed the reproducibility at a longer PLD. We conclude that the calibrated 3D pCASL approach provides a highly reproducible measurement of the CBF of the visual cortex that can serve as a useful quantitative probe for research conducted at multiple centers and for the long-term observation of the clinical effects of neuro-opthalmological diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Diandian
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Kaining
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Youquan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lou
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013113:Spin Labels; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D013113:Spin Labels