A Fully Quantitative Pixel Based Approach for Measuring Myocardial Blood Flow in First-Pass Contrast-Enhanced Perfusion MRI: Microspheres Validation in Dogs and Feasibility Study in Humans

Li-Yueh Hsu¹, Daniel W. Groves¹, Anthony H. Aletras¹, Peter Kellman¹, Andrew E. Arai¹

We developed a fully quantitative method to estimate myocardial blood flow (MBF) in first-pass contrast-enhanced perfusion MR images at the pixel level. The results were validated in an animal model and show that the MR perfusion estimates correlated with microspheres over a wide range of absolute MBF. To test feasibility in humans, the method was also applied to clinical perfusion MR images to estimate pixel-wise MBF at rest and during stress.