Arterial Spin Labeling Magnetic Resonance Perfusion for Traumatic Brain Injury: Technical Challenges and Potentials

Traumatic brain injury (TBI), including concussion, is a public health concern, as it affects over 1.7 million persons in the United States per year. Yet, the diagnosis of TBI, particularly mild TBI (mTBI), can be controversial, as neuroimaging findings can be sparse on conventional magnetic resonance and computed tomography examinations, and when present, often poorly correlate with clinical signs and symptoms. Furthermore, the discussion of TBI, concussion, and head impact exposure is immediately complicated by the many differing opinions of what constitutes each, their respective severities, and how the underlying biomechanics of the inciting head impact might alter the distribution, severity, and prognosis of the underlying brain injury. Advanced imaging methodologies hold promise in improving the sensitivity and detectability of associated imaging biomarkers that might better correlate with patient outcome and prognostication, allowing for improved triage and therapeutic guidance in the setting of TBI, particularly in mTBI. This work will examine the defining symptom complex associated with mTBI and explore changes in cerebral blood flow measured by arterial spin labeling, as a potential imaging biomarker for TBI, and briefly correlate these observations with findings identified by single photon emission computed tomography and positron emission tomography imaging.