Human cerebral blood volume measurements using dynamic contrast enhancement in comparison to dynamic susceptibility contrast MRI

• Published in: Neuroradiology Vol. 57; no. 7; pp. 671 - 678
• Main Authors: Artzi, Moran, Liberman, Gilad, Nadav, Guy, Vitinshtein, Faina, Blumenthal, Deborah T., Bokstein, Felix, Aizenstein, Orna, Bashat, Dafna Ben
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.07.2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; Blood pressure; Blood Volume; Blood Volume Determination - methods; Brain Neoplasms - physiopathology; Cerebrovascular Circulation - physiology; Comparative studies; Contrast Media; Diagnostic Neuroradiology; Female; Glioblastoma - physiopathology; Humans; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; Imaging; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Measurement techniques; Medical imaging; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Neurology; Neuroradiology; Neurosciences; Neurosurgery; Permeability; Radiology; Sensitivity and Specificity; Young Adult; Brain tumor; Dynamic susceptibility contrast; Cerebral blood volume; MRI; Dynamic contrast enhancement
• ISSN: 0028-3940; 1432-1920
• DOI: 10.1007/s00234-015-1518-4

Introduction Cerebral blood volume (CBV) is an important parameter for the assessment of brain tumors, usually obtained using dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) MRI. However, this method often suffers from low spatial resolution and high sensitivity to susceptibility artifacts and usually does not take into account the effect of tissue permeability. The plasma volume ( v p ) can also be extracted from dynamic contrast enhancement (DCE) MRI. The aim of this study was to investigate whether DCE can be used for the measurement of cerebral blood volume in place of DSC for the assessment of patients with brain tumors. Methods Twenty-eight subjects (17 healthy subjects and 11 patients with glioblastoma) were scanned using DCE and DSC. v p and CBV values were measured and compared in different brain components in healthy subjects and in the tumor area in patients. Results Significant high correlations were detected between v p and CBV in healthy subjects in the different brain components; white matter, gray matter, and arteries, correlating with the known increased tissue vascularity, and within the tumor area in patients. Conclusion This work proposes the use of DCE as an alternative method to DSC for the assessment of blood volume, given the advantages of its higher spatial resolution, its lower sensitivity to susceptibility artifacts, and its ability to provide additional information regarding tissue permeability.