Susceptibility contrast imaging of cerebral blood volume: human experience

Magnetic resonance (MR) can offer a unique window on the structure/function relationships in the brain, by utilizing the established link between tissue function, metabolism, and hemodynamics. This report focuses on recent applications of MR-based cerebral blood volume (CBV) imaging in humans. Our methodology uses high-speed "single-shot" or echo planar imaging techniques, which provide the necessary temporal resolution for mapping the rapid cerebral transit of contrast agents. These MR CBV mapping techniques have been used to study normal human brain task activation and in the clinical study of patients with brain tumors. In the latter, positron emission tomography imaging was used for functional metabolic and CBV correlation. Susceptibility contrast CBV imaging should allow us to improve our understanding of the relationship between the detailed physiology and morphology of the microvascular bed and functional attributes of the brain. These techniques can be applied to understanding fundamental questions of cognitive neuroscience and can aid in improving diagnostic sensitivity and specificity in various neuropathologies.