Abstract
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
The relationship between extracranial large-artery characteristics and arterial spin-labeling MR imaging may influence the quality of arterial spin-labeling–CBF images for older adults with and without vascular pathology. We hypothesized that extracranial arterial blood velocity can explain between-person differences in arterial spin-labeling data systematically across clinical populations.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
We performed consecutive pseudocontinuous arterial spin-labeling and phase-contrast MR imaging on 82 individuals (20–88 years of age, 50% women), including healthy young adults, healthy older adults, and older adults with cerebral small vessel disease or chronic stroke infarcts. We examined associations between extracranial phase-contrast hemodynamics and intracranial arterial spin-labeling characteristics, which were defined by labeling efficiency, temporal signal-to-noise ratio, and spatial coefficient of variation.
RESULTS
Large-artery blood velocity was inversely associated with labeling efficiency (P = .007), temporal SNR (P < .001), and spatial coefficient of variation (P = .05) of arterial spin-labeling, after accounting for age, sex, and group. Correction for labeling efficiency on an individual basis led to additional group differences in GM-CBF compared to correction using a constant labeling efficiency.
CONCLUSIONS
Between-subject arterial spin-labeling variance was partially explained by extracranial velocity but not cross-sectional area. Choosing arterial spin-labeling timing parameters with on-line knowledge of blood velocity may improve CBF quantification.
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Editor’s Choice
The authors performed consecutive pseudocontinuous arterial spin-labeling and phase-contrast MR imaging on 82 individuals (healthy young adults, healthy older adults, and older adults with cerebral small vessel disease or chronic stroke infarcts) and examined associations between extracranial phase-contrast hemodynamics and intracranial arterial spin-labeling characteristics, which were defined by labeling efficiency, temporal signal-to-noise ratio, and spatial coefficient of variation. Large-artery blood velocity was inversely associated with labeling efficiency, temporal SNR, and spatial coefficient of variation of arterial spin-labeling. They conclude that choosing arterial spin-labeling timing parameters with on-line knowledge of blood velocity may improve CBF quantification.