Journal
MAGNETIC RESONANCE IN MEDICINE
Volume 56, Issue 5, Pages 1145-1150Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/mrm.21052
Keywords
MRI; human brain; microvessel density; relaxation rate; echo planar imaging; contrast agent
Funding
- NIBIB NIH HHS [R21/R33-EB003305] Funding Source: Medline
- NINDS NIH HHS [R37-NS29029-11] Funding Source: Medline
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Animal studies have shown that in vivo estimates of microvessel density in the brain may be obtained from an MRI-measurable index (0) provided that a sufficiently high dose of an intravascular paramagnetic contrast agent is employed. Q is determined from the shifts in the transverse relaxation rates induced by the contrast agent, and a high dose is required for the validity of analytic expressions relating 0 to the microvessel density. However, the steady-state imaging techniques used in these prior investigations are not appropriate for humans, as the required contrast agent dose is too large. Here results of a pilot study with three subjects are reported. The results suggest that reliable Q measurements can be performed in the human brain at 1.5 T by using an interleaved spin-echo (SE)/gradient-echo (GE) echo-planar imaging (EPI) sequence and a bolus injection of a triple dose of Gd-DTPA. Lower- and upper-bound estimates for the microvessel density were derived from the Q-values, and were found to be in reasonable accord with previously cited values determined by histology.
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