Functional brain MR imaging based on bolus tracking with a fast T2*-sensitized gradient-echo method

Chrit T.W. Moonen, Fernando A. Barrios, Jeffrey R. Zigun, Joe Gillen, Guoying Liu, Geoffrey Sobering, Roy Sexton, John Woo, Joseph Frank, Daniel R. Weinberger

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

37 Scopus citations

Abstract

Dynamic physiological scanning, based on temporary changes in local field homogeneity during the passage of a contrast agent bolus, has been performed hitherto with echo-planar imaging (EPI) or conventional gradient-recalled techniques (FLASH). Here, it is shown that the T2* sensitivity of conventional FLASH techniques can be improved drastically on a conventional whole body instrument by delaying the gradient-echo until the subsequent TR-period without increasing total imaging time. Examples are given for a full k-space matrix (128 × 256) obtained within 2 s with a TE of 25 ms, resulting in images free of artifacts. The method is applied to bolus tracking through the brain of healthy volunteers during visual stimulation and in the dark. An average increase of regional cerebral blood volume (rCBV) in the visual cortex of 10.9% (n = 9, p = .001) was found.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)379-385
Number of pages7
JournalMagnetic Resonance Imaging
Volume12
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 1994
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Blood MR studies
  • Blood flow
  • Blood, volume
  • Dynamics
  • MRI

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biophysics
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging

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