Alan C. McLaughlin

H215O PET validation of steady-state arterial spin tagging cerebral blood flow measurements in humans

Steady‐state arterial spin tagging approaches can provide quantitative images of CBF, but have not been validated in humans. The work presented here compared CBF values measured using steady‐state arterial spin tagging with CBF values measured in the same group of human subjects using the H215O IV bolus PET method. Blood flow values determined by H215O PET were corrected for the known effects of incomplete extraction of water across the blood brain barrier. For a cortical strip ROI, blood flow values determined using arterial spin tagging (64 ± 12 cc/100g/min) were not statistically different from corrected blood flow values determined using H215O PET (67 ± 13 cc/100g/min). However, for a central white matter ROI, blood flow values determined using arterial spin tagging were significantly underestimated compared to corrected blood flow values determined using H215O PET. This underestimation could be caused by an underestimation of the arterial transit time for white matter regions. Magn Reson Med 44:450–456, 2000. Published 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Noise reduction in 3D perfusion imaging by attenuating the static signal in arterial spin tagging (ASSIST)

Phase‐encoded multishot SPIRAL approaches were used to acquire true 3D cerebral blood flow images of the human head using arterial spin tagging approaches. Multiple‐inversion background suppression techniques, which suppress phase noise due to interacquisition fluctuations in the static magnetic field, reduced the temporal standard deviation of true 3D ΔM images acquired using arterial spin tagging approaches by ∼50%. Background suppressed arterial spin tagging (ASSIST) approaches were used to obtain high‐resolution isotropic true 3D cerebral blood flow images, and to obtain true 3D activation images during cognitive (working memory) tasks. Magn Reson Med 44:92–100, 2000. Published 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Effect of restricted water exchange on cerebral blood flow values calculated with arterial spin tagging : A theoretical investigation

Arterial spin tagging techniques originally used the one‐compartment Kety model to describe the dynamics of tagged water in the brain. The work presented here develops a more realistic model that includes the contribution of tagged water in the capillary bed and accounts for the finite time required for water to diffuse across the blood‐brain barrier. The new model was used to evaluate potential errors in cerebral blood flow values calculated using the one‐compartment Kety model . The results predict that if the one‐compartment Kety model is used to analyze arterial spin tagging data the observed grey matter cerebral blood flow values should be relatively insensitive to restricted diffusion of water across the capillary bed. For instance, the observed grey matter cerebral blood flow should closely approximate the true cerebral blood flow and not the product of the extraction fraction and the cerebral blood flow. This prediction is in agreement with recent experimental arterial spin tagging results. Magn Reson Med 44:440–449, 2000. Published 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Quantitation of Regional Cerebral Blood Flow Increases during Motor Activation: A Steady-State Arterial Spin Tagging Study

Steady-state arterial spin tagging MRI approaches were used to quantitate regional cerebral blood flow increases during finger tapping tasks in seven normal subjects. Statistically significant increases in cerebral blood flow were observed in the contralateral primary sensorimotor cortex in all seven subjects and in the supplementary motor area in five subjects. The intrinsic spatial resolution of the cerebral blood flow images was approximately 4 mm. If no spatial filtering was applied, the average increase in cerebral blood flow in the activated primary sensorimotor cortex was 60 +/- 10 cc/100 g/min (91 +/- 32%). If the images were filtered to a spatial resolution of 15 mm, the average increase in cerebral blood flow in the activated primary sensorimotor cortex was 23 +/- 7 cc/100 g/min (42 +/- 15%), in agreement with previously reported 133Xe and PET results.

Role of nitric oxide in regulating cerebrocortical oxygen consumption and blood flow during hypercapnia

The effect of the nitric oxide (NO) synthase inhibitor Nω-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME) on the response of cerebrocortical oxygen consumption (CMRO2) and blood flow (CBF) to two levels of hypercapnia (Paco2 ∼ 60 mm Hg and Paco2 ∼ 90 mm Hg) was investigated in ketamine-anesthetized rats. CBF was calculated using the Kety–Schmidt approach and CMRO2 was calculated from the product of CBF and the arteriovenous (superior sagittal sinus) difference for oxygen. l-NAME treatment did not have a significant effect on either CMRO2 or CBE under normocapnic conditions but inhibited the hypercapnic increase of CMRO2 and the hypercapnic increase in CBF. These results suggest that NO plays a role in the response of CMRO2 and CBF during hypercapnia and are consistent with the suggestion that at least part of the increase in CBF observed during hypercapnia is coupled to an increase in CMRO2.

Measuring the effects of indomethacin on changes in cerebral oxidative metabolism and cerebral blood flow during sensorimotor activation

The work presented here uses combined blood oxygenation level‐dependent (BOLD) and arterial spin tagging (AST) approaches to study the effect of indomethacin on cerebral blood flow (CBF) and oxygen consumption (CMRO2) increases during motor activation. While indomethacin reduced the CBF increase during activation, it did not significantly affect the CMRO2 increase during activation. The ratio of the activation‐induced CBF increase in the presence and absence of indomethacin was 0.54 ± 0.08 (±SEM, n = 8, P < 0.001), while the ratio of the CMRO2 increase in the presence and absence of the drug was 1.02 ± 0.08 (±SEM, N = 8, ns). Potential difficulties in estimating CMRO2 changes from combined BOLD/AST data are discussed. Magn Reson Med 50:99–106, 2003. Published 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

A technique for single-channel MR brain tissue segmentation : Application to a pediatric sample

A segmentation method is presented for gray matter, white matter, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in thin-sliced single-channel brain magnetic resonance (MR) scans. The method is based on probabilistic modeling of intensity distributions and on a region growing technique. Interrater and intrarater reliabilities for the method were high, and comparison with phantom studies and hand-traced results from an experienced rater indicated good validity. The method was designed to account for spatially dependent image intensity inhomogeneities. Segmentation of MR brain scans of 105 (56 male and 49 female) healthy children and adolescents showed that although the total brain volume was stable over age 4-18, white matter increased and gray matter decreased significantly. There were no sex differences in total gray and white matter growth after correction for total brain volume. White matter volume increased the most in superior and posterior regions and laterality effects were seen in hemisphere tissue volumes. These findings are consistent with other reports, and further validate the segmentation technique.

Cerebral magnetic resonance image segmentation using data fusion.

OBJECTIVE A semiautomated method is described for segmenting dual echo MR head scans into gray and white matter and CSF. The method is applied to brain scans of 80 healthy children and adolescents. MATERIALS AND METHODS A probabilistic data fusion equation was used to combine simultaneously acquired T2-weighted and proton density head scans for tissue segmentation. The fusion equation optimizes the probability of a voxel being a particular tissue type, given the corresponding probabilities from both images. The algorithm accounts for the intensity inhomogeneities present in the images by fusion of local regions of the images. RESULTS The method was validated using a phantom (agarose gel with iron oxide particles) and hand-segmented images. Gray and white matter volumes for subjects aged 20-30 years were close to those previously published. White matter and CSF volume increased and gray matter volume decreased significantly across ages 4-18 years. White matter, gray matter, and CSF volumes were larger for males than for females. Males and females showed similar change of gray and white matter volumes with age. CONCLUSION This simple, reliable, and valid method can be employed in clinical research for quantification of gray and white matter and CSF volumes in MR head scans. Increase in white matter volume may reflect ongoing axonal growth and myelination, and gray matter reductions may reflect synaptic pruning or cell death in the age span of 4-18 years.

Use of 19F NMR spectroscopy for measurement of cerebral blood flow: a comparative study using microspheres

19F NMR was used to determine washout curves of an inert, diffusible gas (CHF3) from the cat brain. The cerebral blood flow was estimated from a bi- or tri-phasic fit to the deconvoluted wash-out curve, using the Kety-Schmidt approach. Cerebral blood flow values determined by 19F NMR show the expected responsiveness to alterations in Paco2, but are approximately 28% lower than cerebral blood flow values determined simultaneously by radioactive microsphere techniques. High concentrations of CHF3 have little effect on intracranial pressure, mean arterial blood pressure or Paco2, but cause small changes in the blood flow to certain regions of the brain. We conclude that 19F NMR techniques utilizing low concentrations of CHF3 have potential for the noninvasive measurement of cerebral blood flow.

Quantitation of regional cerebral blood flow increases during motor activation: A multislice, steady-state, arterial spin tagging study

Steady‐state arterial spin tagging approaches were used to construct multislice images of relative cerebral blood flow changes during finger‐tapping tasks. Statistically significant increases in cerebral blood flow were observed in primary sensorimotor cortex in all seven subjects. The mean volume of the activated region in the contralateral primary sensorimotor cortex was 0.9 cm3, and the mean increase in cerebral blood flow in the activated area was 54% ± 11%. Although the extended spatial coverage is advantageous for activation studies, the intrinsic sensitivity of the multislice approach is smaller than the intrinsic sensitivity of the single‐slice, arterial spin tagging approach. Magn Reson Med 42:404–407, 1999. Published 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.