Non-Invasive Assessment of Damping of Blood Flow Velocity Pulsatility in Cerebral Arteries With MRI.

BACKGROUND: Damping of heartbeat-induced pressure pulsations occurs in large arteries such as the aorta and extends to the small arteries and microcirculation. Since recently, 7 T MRI enables investigation of damping in the small cerebral arteries. PURPOSE: To investigate flow pulsatility damping between the first segment of the middle cerebral artery (M1) and the small perforating arteries using magnetic resonance imaging. STUDY TYPE: Retrospective. SUBJECTS: Thirty-eight participants (45% female) aged above 50 without history of heart failure, carotid occlusive disease, or cognitive impairment. FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE: 3 T gradient echo (GE) T1-weighted images, spin-echo fluid-attenuated inversion recovery images, GE two-dimensional (2D) phase-contrast, and GE cine steady-state free precession images were acquired. At 7 T, T1-weighted images, GE quantitative-flow, and GE 2D phase-contrast images were acquired. ASSESSMENT: Velocity pulsatilities of the M1 and perforating arteries in the basal ganglia (BG) and semi-oval center (CSO) were measured. We used the damping index between the M1 and perforating arteries as a damping indicator (velocity pulsatilityM1 /velocity pulsatilityCSO/BG ). Left ventricular stroke volume (LVSV), mean arterial pressure (MAP), pulse pressure (PP), and aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) were correlated with velocity pulsatility in the M1 and in perforating arteries, and with the damping index of the CSO and BG. STATISTICAL TESTS: Correlations of LVSV, MAP, PP, and PWV with velocity pulsatility in the M1 and small perforating arteries, and correlations with the damping indices were evaluated with linear regression analyses. RESULTS: PP and PWV were significantly positively correlated to M1 velocity pulsatility. PWV was significantly negatively correlated to CSO velocity pulsatility, and PP was unrelated to CSO velocity pulsatility (P = 0.28). PP and PWV were uncorrelated to BG velocity pulsatility (P = 0.25; P = 0.68). PWV and PP were significantly positively correlated with the CSO damping index. DATA CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrated a dynamic damping of velocity pulsatility between the M1 and small cerebral perforating arteries in relation to proximal stress. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4 TECHNICAL EFFICACY: Stage 1.

Reproducibility of pharmacological ASL using sequences from different vendors: implications for multicenter drug studies.

OBJECT: The current study assesses the multicenter feasibility of pharmacological arterial spin labeling (ASL) by comparing a caffeine-induced relative cerebral blood flow decrease (%CBF↓) measured with two pseudo-continuous ASL sequences as provided by two major vendors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-two healthy volunteers were scanned twice with both a 3D spiral (GE) and a 2D EPI (Philips) sequence. The inter-session reproducibility was evaluated by comparisons of the mean and within-subject coefficient of variability (wsCV) of the %CBF↓, both for the total cerebral gray matter and on a voxel level. RESULTS: The %CBF↓ was larger when measured with the 3D spiral sequence (23.9 ± 5.9 %) than when measured with the 2D EPI sequence (19.2 ± 5.6 %) on a total gray matter level (p = 0.02), and on a voxel level in the posterior watershed area (p < 0.001). There was no difference between the gray matter wsCV of the 3D spiral (57.3 %) and 2D EPI sequence (66.7 %, p = 0.3), whereas on a voxel level, the wsCV was visibly different between the sequences. CONCLUSION: The observed differences between ASL sequences of both vendors can be explained by differences in the employed readout modules. These differences may seriously hamper multicenter pharmacological ASL, which strongly encourages standardization of ASL implementations.

Acoustic noise reduction in pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (pCASL).

OBJECT: While pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (pCASL) is a promising imaging technique to visualize cerebral blood flow, it is also (acoustically) very loud during labeling. In this paper, we reduced the labeling loudness on our scanner by increasing the interval between the RF pulses from the literature standard of 1.0 ms. We also propose recommendations to reduce the loudness on scanners of the same type at other sites. MATERIALS AND METHODS: First, the sound pressure level (SPL) was both simulated and measured as a function of the labeling interval (1.0-1.8 ms) and longitudinal position in the scanner (-10 to +10 cm, relative to isocenter). Subsequently, we selected the labeling interval with the lowest overall SPL for the "SPL-optimized" pCASL sequence. Nine volunteers were scanned to compare raw signal intensity, temporal signal-to-noise ratio (tSNR) and labeling efficiency between the SPL-optimized and the standard PCASL sequence. RESULTS: Sound pressure level measurements on our scanner showed that loudness was reduced by 6.5 dB at the approximate location of the ear by adjusting the labeling interval to 1.4 ms. Furthermore, image quality was not affected, since no significant differences in signal intensity, tSNR and labeling efficiency were observed. CONCLUSION: By increasing the pCASL labeling interval, acoustic noise in the pCASL sequence was reduced with 6.5 dB, while image quality was preserved.