Samira Kazan1, Michael Chappell1,2,
Mathias Gunther3, Stephen Payne1
1Biomedical Engineering, University of
Oxford, Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom; 2Centre for
Functional MRI of the Brain, University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxfordshire,
United Kingdom; 3Department of Neurology , University of
Heidelberg, Heidelberg
Dispersion
of labelled blood water is a known issue in the quantification of cerebral
blood flow using arterial spin labelling. A mass transport model (MTM) of the
dispersion of a bolus of labelled blood within an artery has been recently
presented. Here the MTM is validated by examining ASL data containing
arterial signal. It is found to fit the data with lower error than
alternative models. It also captured the increasing dispersion of the bolus
during transit along the arterial tree, as evidenced by estimates of path
length and mean flow speed.