Novel Pharmacokinetic Model for Fractional Blood Volume Quantification with the Rapid Steady State T1 MRI Technique in Tumors with Gd-DOTA Permeable Vasculature

Teodora-Adriana Perles-Barbacaru¹, Michel Sarraf¹, Regine Farion¹, Marie France Nissou¹, Boudewijn van der Sanden¹, Francois Berger¹, Hana Lahrech¹

A blood volume fraction (BVf) in a C6 rat brain tumor model is quantified with the Rapid Steady State T₁ (RSST₁) technique and Gd-DOTA using a novel pharmacokinetic model to account for transendothelial contrast agent leakage. The BVf is validated with a ΔR₂* steady state technique employing a blood pool contrast agent and histologically. The advantage of the RSST₁ technique over conventional dynamic contrast enhanced techniques is that it does not require measurement of the arterial input function, making BVf quantification straightforward and easy to apply in the clinical routine.