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Cerebral blood flow measurements in infants using look-locker arterial spin labeling
Marta Varela1,2, Esben T Petersen3, Xavier Golay4
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Division of Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK.
Insights
Look-Locker arterial spin labeling (ASL) accurately measures cerebral blood flow (CBF) in infants. Using infant-specific parameters significantly improves accuracy compared to adult values.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric neuroimaging
- Vascular physiology
Background:
- Cerebral blood flow (CBF) measurement in infants is crucial for assessing brain health.
- Arterial spin labeling (ASL) is a non-invasive MRI technique for quantifying CBF.
- Accurate ASL requires precise model parameters, which can vary significantly with age.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the feasibility of using Look-Locker ASL for CBF measurement in infants under one year of age.
- To determine the impact of subject-specific ASL model parameters on CBF measurement accuracy in this population.
- To compare ASL-derived CBF with phase-contrast angiography (PCA) measurements.
Main Methods:
- Acquired CBF maps in 7 infants (postmenstrual age 32-78 weeks) using a Look-Locker ASL sequence.
- Utilized both adult-derived and subject-specific ASL model parameters.
- Compared ASL global CBF with PCA measurements obtained during the same session.
Main Results:
- Global CBF values ranged from 24-56 mL/100g/min and increased significantly with postmenstrual age (ρ=0.89, P=0.01).
- Subject-specific parameters resulted in CBF estimates with significantly better agreement with PCA values (P=0.80) compared to adult parameters (P=0.04).
Conclusions:
- Look-Locker ASL is a viable method for measuring infant CBF.
- Employing infant-specific parameters, especially for blood and tissue T1 values, enhances ASL accuracy in this age group.
- The variability of T1 values in infants necessitates the use of individualized parameters for precise CBF quantification.
Purpose:
To measure cerebral blood flow (CBF) using Look-Locker arterial spin labeling (ASL) in children under 1 year of age and to investigate the advantages of using subject-specific estimates of ASL model parameters in this population.
Materials And Methods:
Of 12 scanned infants, we successfully acquired CBF maps in 7 (postmenstrual age: 32 to 78 weeks) using a Look-Locker ASL scheme and both adult literature-derived and subject-specific model parameters. ASL global CBF measurements were compared with independent global CBF measurements obtained in the same scanning session using phase-contrast angiography.
Results:
Measured global CBF values ranged from 24 to 56 mL/100g/min in the scanned infants, increasing significantly with postmenstrual age (ρSpearman = 0.89, P-value = 0.01). Using subject-specific model parameters yielded CBF estimates in significantly better agreement with phase-contrast angiography values (P-value: 0.80) than when standard adult parameters were used (P-value: 0.04).
Conclusion:
Look-Locker ASL can be used to measure CBF in infants and its accuracy is improved with the use of infant-specific auxiliary parameters, particularly blood and tissue T1 , which were much more variable in the imaged infants in than adults.
