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Noninvasive quantification of whole‐brain cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO 2 ) by MRI
Author(s) -
Xu Feng,
Ge Yulin,
Lu Hanzhang
Publication year - 2009
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.21994
Subject(s) - cerebral blood flow , positron emission tomography , cerebral veins , magnetic resonance imaging , relaxation (psychology) , medicine , nuclear medicine , superior sagittal sinus , contrast (vision) , radiology , computer science , cardiology , artificial intelligence , thrombosis
Abstract Cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO 2 ) is an important marker for brain function and brain health. Existing techniques for quantification of CMRO 2 with positron emission tomography (PET) or MRI involve special equipment and/or exogenous agents, and may not be suitable for routine clinical studies. In the present study, a noninvasive method is developed to estimate whole‐brain CMRO 2 in humans. This method applies phase‐contrast MRI for quantitative blood flow measurement and T 2 ‐relaxation‐under‐spin‐tagging (TRUST) MRI for venous oxygenation estimation, and uses the Fick principle of arteriovenous difference for the calculation of CMRO 2 . Whole‐brain averaged CMRO 2 values in young, healthy subjects were 132.1 ± 20.0 μmol/100 g/min, in good agreement with literature reports using PET. Various acquisition strategies for phase‐contrast and TRUST MRI were compared, and it was found that nongated phase‐contrast and sagittal sinus (SS) TRUST MRI were able to provide the most efficient and accurate estimation of CMRO 2 . In addition, blood flow and venous oxygenation were found to be positively correlated across subjects. Owing to the noninvasive nature of this method, it may be a convenient and useful approach for assessment of brain metabolism in brain disorders as well as under various physiologic conditions. Magn Reson Med, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.