Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI
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J Magn Reson Imaging · Nov 2016
Measurement of arteriolar blood volume in brain tumors using MRI without exogenous contrast agent administration at 7T.
Arteriolar cerebral-blood-volume (CBVa) is an important perfusion parameter that can be measured using inflow-based vascular-space-occupancy (iVASO) MRI without exogenous contrast agent administration. The purpose of this study is to assess the potential diagnostic value of CBVa in brain tumor patients by comparing it with total-CBV (including arterial, capillary and venous vessels) measured by dynamic-susceptibility-contrast (DSC) MRI. ⋯ In this initial patient study, CBVa demonstrated a stronger correlation with WHO grade than total-CBV. Further investigation with a larger cohort is warranted to validate whether CBVa can be a better classifier than total-CBV for the stratification of brain tumors, and whether iVASO MRI can be a useful alternative method for the assessment of tumor perfusion, especially when exogenous contrast agent administration is difficult in certain patient populations. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2016;44:1244-1255.