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Effects of the apparent transverse relaxation time on cerebral blood flow measurements obtained by arterial spin labeling
Author(s) -
St. Lawrence K.S.,
Wang J.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
magnetic resonance in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.696
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1522-2594
pISSN - 0740-3194
DOI - 10.1002/mrm.20364
Subject(s) - nuclear magnetic resonance , cerebral blood flow , relaxation (psychology) , chemistry , spin echo , blood flow , arterial spin labeling , capillary action , tracer , arterial blood , magnetic resonance imaging , nuclear medicine , cardiology , physics , medicine , radiology , nuclear physics , thermodynamics
Previous modeling studies have predicted that a significant fraction of the signal in arterial spin labeling (ASL) experiments originates from labeled water in the capillaries. Provided that the relaxation times in blood and tissue are similar, ASL data can still be analyzed with the conventional one‐compartment Kety model. Such studies have primarily focused on T 1 differences and have neglected any differences in transverse relaxation times ( T 2 and T 2 * ). This is reasonable for studies at lower fields; however, it may not be valid at higher fields due to the stronger susceptibility effects of deoxygenated blood. In this study a tracer kinetic model was developed that includes T 2 *differences between capillary blood and tissue. The model predicts that a reduction in blood T 2 *at higher fields will attenuate the capillary contribution to the ASL signal. This in turn causes an underestimation of CBF when ASL data are analyzed with the one‐compartment Kety model. We confirmed this prediction by comparing ASL data collected at 1.5 and 4 T, and at multiple gradient echoes (19, 32, 45, and 58 ms). A decrease in resting‐state CBF with echo time (TE) was observed at 4 T, but not at 1.5 T. These results suggest that at higher fields AST data should be collected using gradient‐echo techniques with short TEs, or with spin‐echo techniques. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the CBF measurements to venous T 2 *may affect the interpretation of concurrent ASL/BOLD studies. Magn Reson Med 53:425–433, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.