J. Jean Chen1,
H. Diana Rosas, 12, David H. Salat1
1A. A. Martinos Center for Biomedical
Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown,
MA, United States; 2Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General
Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
Accurate
measurement of regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) changes in aging using
conventional techniques is hampered by low repeatability and partial-volume
effects. In this work, we examine the feasibility of pulsed arterial-spin
labelling in obtaining quantitative CBF maps in healthy adults, evaluating
the impact of potential partial-volume effects and the robustness of calibration
techniques. We observed cortical CBF decrease with healthy aging, with
heightened reduction co-localizing with regions previously reported to
exhibit decline in metabolism. These findings were independent of the choice
of CBF calibration technique, and partial-volume effects were found to bias
CBF in areas of significant cortical thinning.
Keywords