Bradley J. MacIntosh1, Ediri Sideso2, Manus J. Donahue1, Atle Bjrnerud3, Matthias Gnther4, Ashok Handa5, James Kennedy2, Peter Jezzard1
1Clinical Neurology, FMRIB Centre, Oxford, Oxfordshire, UK; 2Acute Stroke Programme, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, John Radcliffe, Oxford, Oxfordshire, UK; 3Medical Physics, Rikshospitalet University Hospital, Oslo, Norway; 4Neurology, University hospital Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; 5Nuffield Department of Surgery, John Radcliffe, Oxford, Oxfordshire, UK
Dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) is the industry-standard perfusion MRI technique. It has been used extensively to characterise the effects of ischaemia in stroke patients. DSC is not suitable for all patients, however, and although rare the contrast agent is associated with potential side effects. Arterial spin labeling (ASL) is non-invasive and may be a useful alternative perfusion MRI technique. In the current study we compare CBF maps from DSC and ASL directly and find a good correlation (R = 0.27 0.094, P < 0.01) between CBF maps in a group of 10 patients with carotid artery disease.