Phase Contrast MRI Absolute Cerebral Blood Flow Estimation: A Method to Obtain Absolute Cerebral Blood Flow Maps from Dynamic Susceptibility Contrast Imaging.

David Bonekamp¹, Peter B. Barker²

We propose a method to calibrate dynamic susceptibility contrast MRI (DSC-MRI) relative cerebral blood flow (rCBF) maps using a single slice phase contrast MRI (PC-MRI) technique to obtain absolute cerebral blood flow (tCBF) maps. This technique requires only a minimal extension of the clinical protocol by a 50 sec sequence. Initial results demonstrate that the white matter CBF estimate in the hemisphere contralateral to the pathology demonstrates significantly less variability and better agreement with literature values than uncorrected data.