The Assessment of Cellular Packing Heterogeneity in Brain Tumors Using DSC-MRI

Natenael Semmineh¹, C. Chad Quarles¹

The use of DSC-MRI in brain tumors is known to be influenced by contrast agent extravasation, which can result in additional extravascular T₁ and T₂ * effects well after the contrast agent initial bolus has passed through tissue. By separating and quantifying these T₁ and T₂ * effects in the period of time after the contrast agents first pass we propose that a new metric, termed the extravascular susceptibility calibration factor (K_e), can be derived and used to assess cellular packing heterogeneity. In this study we demonstrate that K_e may be used to differentiate between tumor types with varying cellular features.