Abstract #2904
Parallel Observation of Left Ventricular Arterial Input Function and Brain Perfusion in Rats Using a Multi-Coil System
Pickup S, Poptani H, Kim D, Chawla S
University of Pennsylvania
A multi-coil apparatus was constructed for parallel observation of brain perfusion and left ventricular arterial input function in rats. The apparatus provides high SNR images for the target tissues and homogenous saturation of the entire blood pool. The device was used to perform dynamic contrast enhanced imaging in four Fisher rats bearing brain tumors. The resulting data were analyzed using both the Tofts and BOLERO models for tissue perfusion, yielding maps of Ktrans, ve and &[tau] (BOLERO only). The BOLERO model consistently yielded more accurate fits of the data than the Tofts model.