Abstract #1091

Blood-brain barrier water exchange estimation using optimised contrast-enhanced ASL

Elizabeth Powell¹, Ben Dickie², Yolanda Ohene², Geoff JM Parker^1,3,4, and Laura M Parkes²

¹Centre for Medical Image Computing, Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, United Kingdom, ²Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom, ³Department of Neuroinflammation, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom, ⁴Bioxydyn Limited, Manchester, United Kingdom

Contrast-enhanced ASL (CE-ASL) has been proposed as a method for measuring blood-brain barrier (BBB) water exchange. Altering the T₁ of blood using a gadolinium-based contrast agent should allow the label location to be identified as a function of post-labelling delay time; however, the shorter T₁ of blood water leads to a trade-off between contrast dose and SNR. We show using simulations that there is an optimal T₁ of blood post-contrast that balances this trade-off. Using this information we estimate the expected accuracy and precision of BBB water exchange measurements using CE-ASL. Finally, we demonstrate the method in vivo.

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