Application of regional perfusion imaging to extra-intracranial bypass surgery and severe stenoses

Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL) is a non-invasive method to quantitatively measure perfusion without the need of contrast material. Measurement of perfusion is derived from the subtraction of two consecutively acquired scans, with or without radio frequency labeling of the magnetization in the feeding arteries. So far, almost all ASL methods only allowed labeling the entire feeding artery tree of the brain simultaneously, without separation of the individual perfusion territories. In this paper, we describe a newly developed method, Regional Perfusion Imaging, allowing quantitative measurement of perfusion in the watershed of individually labeled arteries (right and left internal carotids, as well as basilar artery and the posterior circulation). Unlike conventional digital subtraction angiography, this new method is completely non-invasive, and allows to selectively measure cerebral perfusion, and not only to get angiograms of the feeding vessels. Regional perfusion was already measured in more than 70 elderly healthy volunteers and over 30 patients with internal carotid disease (severe stenoses and/or after extra-intracranial bypass surgery). A large variation among perfusion territories, even in healthy volunteers, can be appreciated. This method has the potential to increase our understanding of the relationship between collateral flow and regional perfusion in patients with neurovascular diseases.