title: 4D flow MRI for intracranial hemodynamics assessment in Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: Cerebral blood flow, arterial pulsation, and vasomotion play important roles in the transport of waste metabolites out of the brain. Impaired vasomotion results in reduced driving force for the perivascular/glymphatic clearance of beta-amyloid. Noninvasive cerebrovascular characteristic features that potentially assess these transport mechanisms are mean blood flow (MBF) and pulsatility index (PI). In this study, 4D flow MRI was used to measure intra-cranial flow features, particularly MBF, PI, resistive index (RI) and cross-sectional area in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), mild cognitive impairment and in age matched and younger cognitively healthy controls. Three-hundred fourteen subjects participated in this study. Volumetric, time-resolved phase contrast (PC) MRI data were used to quantify hemodynamic parameters from 11 vessel segments. Anatomical variants of the Circle of Willis were also cataloged. The AD population reported a statistically significant decrease in MBF and cross-sectional area, and also an increase in PI and RI compared to age matched cognitively healthy control subjects. The 4D flow MRI technique used in this study provides quantitative measurements of intracranial vessel geometry and the velocity of flow. Cerebrovascular characteristics features of vascular health such as pulsatility index can be extracted from the 4D flow MRI data.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Leonardo A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Rivera-Rivera
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, USA Department of Radiology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Turski
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Kevin M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Carson
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.affiliation: Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Sara E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Berman
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Phillip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kilgas
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Howard A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Rowley
authors.affiliation: Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center, Wm. S. Middleton Memorial VA Hospital, Madison, WI, USA Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Cynthia M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Carlsson
authors.affiliation: Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center, Wm. S. Middleton Memorial VA Hospital, Madison, WI, USA Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA Wisconsin Alzheimer's Institute, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Sterling C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, USA Department of Radiology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, USA owieben@wisc.edu.
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Wieben
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002536:Cerebral Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D002550:Cerebral Veins / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D002941:Circle of Willis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011673:Pulsatile Flow / Q000502:physiology
keywords: 4D flow MRI; Alzheimer’s disease; circle of Willis; mean blood flow; pulsatility index