Concurrent Measurement of Brain Perfusion, Blood Volume and Blood Brain Barrier Permeability Using Dynamic Contrast Enhanced T1 -Weighted MRI

Henrik BW Larsson¹, Frederic Courivaud², Egill Rostrup¹, Adam Espe Hansen¹

The measurement of brain perfusion (CBF) and cerebral blood volume (CBV) is important when diagnosing and treating vascular, degenerative and neoplastic diseases. These diseases are often associated with an increase of blood brain barrier (BBB) permeability. Despite the widespread use of MR perfusion imaging based on bolus tracking a concurrent estimation of CBF, CBV and permeability has proved difficult to achieve. The present study shows that brain perfusion, brain blood volume and blood brain barrier permeability can be obtained concurrently from dynamic contrast enhanced T₁ -weighted perfusion imaging. Perfusion was estimated by Tikhonovs deconvolution method and blood volume and permeability were estimated by using Patlaks method in 10 patients with brain tumors. The results point to the importance of considering the effect of BBB leakage on the CBV estimation.