John David Dickson1, Guy B. Williams2, Sally Georgia Harding2, Thomas Adrian Carpenter2, Richard E. Ansorge1
1Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University, Cambridge, Cambs, UK; 2Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre, Cambridge University, UK
Quantifying the BOLD signal allows the measurement of local blood oxygenation. This could provide a useful tool for the analysis of cerebral vascular disorder; however the presence of Cerebral Spinal Fluid (CSF) can confound this process. This study shows how realistic measures of blood oxygenation can be made in voxels of partial CSF volume by nulling the CSF signal. This technique, combined with parallel acquisition allows useful data to be acquired within clinically realistic scan times.