• Frank Risse, Wolfhard Semmler, Hans-Ulrich Kauczor, and Christian Fink.
• Department of Medical Physics in Radiology, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Heidelberg, Germany. f.risse@dkfz-heidelberg.de
• J Magn Reson Imaging. 2006 Dec 1; 24 (6): 1284-90.

PurposeTo evaluate a dual-bolus approach to pulmonary perfusion MRI.Materials And MethodsThe dual-bolus approach uses a separate low-dose measurement for the arterial input function (AIF) to ensure linearity. The measured AIF is constructed according to a subsequent higher dose used for the tissue concentration curves in the lung. In this study a prebolus of 0.01 mmol/kg followed by doses of 0.04 mmol/kg and 0.08 mmol/kg was used. Measurements were performed using time-resolved two-dimensional fast low-angle shot (2D FLASH) MRI (TE/TR = 0.73 msec/1.73 msec; flip angle = 40 degrees ; generalized autocalibrating partially parallel acquisitions (GRAPPA) factor = 3; temporal resolution = 400 msec) in end-inspiratory breath-hold.ResultsThe combination of prebolus/0.04 mmol/kg resulted in a pulmonary blood flow (PBF) of 211 +/- 77 mL/min/100 mL, and a pulmonary blood volume (PBV) of 20 +/- 3 mL/100 mL. The combination of prebolus/0.08 mmol/kg resulted in approximately 50% lower perfusion values, most likely due to saturation effects in the lung tissue.ConclusionA dual-bolus approach to pulmonary perfusion MRI is feasible and may reduce the problem of lacking linear relationship between the contrast-agent concentration and signal intensity.

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