Daniel Bulte1, Michael Kelly1, Michael Germuska1, Jingyi Xie1, Michael Chappell1, Thomas Okell1, Molly Bright2, Peter Jezzard1
1FMRIB Centre, University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom; 2CUBRIC, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom
FMRI is typically unable to match the physiological information obtainable from positron emission tomography. The MRI technique introduced here attempts to address some of these limitations in a bid to provide physiological data comparable with PET measurements. We present an 18-minute MRI protocol that produces multi-slice, whole-brain coverage and yields quantitative images of resting cerebral blood flow, cerebral blood volume, oxygen extraction fraction, CMRO2, arterial arrival time and cerebrovascular reactivity of the human brain in the absence of any specific functional task. The technique uses a combined hyperoxia and hypercapnia paradigm with a modified arterial spin labelling sequence.