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Abstract #3992

A Total Variation Spatial Prior for the Estimation of Perfusion & Transit Time Maps in PASL-MRI

Nuno Santos1,2, Joo M. Sanches1, Ins Sousa1,2, Patricia Figueiredo1

Blood-tissue exchange is a fundamental physiologic process that can be quantified by ASL methods. Commonly-used kinetic models for characterising blood-tissue magnetisation exchange assume fast mixing in the tissue; this assumption may result in large systematic errors in, e.g., tissue blood flow estimates. We develop a model of IV-EV exchange that accounts for diffusion within the tissue compartment; the extravascular magnetisation and the total magnetic moment are obtained and a criterion for the validity of the kinetic modelling approach is given. The model is applied to ASL of brain and myocardium.


1Institute for Systems & Robotics, Instituto Superior Tcnico, Lisbon, Portugal; 2Healthcare Sector, Siemens S.A., Portugal