Abstract #4066

Accounting for Dispersion in Arterial Spin Labeling Using the Mass Transport Model: Validation Using the Arterial Input Function

Samira Kazan¹, Michael Chappell^1,2, Mathias Gunther³, Stephen Payne¹

¹Biomedical Engineering, University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom; ²Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain, University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom; ³Department of Neurology , University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg

Dispersion of labelled blood water is a known issue in the quantification of cerebral blood flow using arterial spin labelling. A mass transport model (MTM) of the dispersion of a bolus of labelled blood within an artery has been recently presented. Here the MTM is validated by examining ASL data containing arterial signal. It is found to fit the data with lower error than alternative models. It also captured the increasing dispersion of the bolus during transit along the arterial tree, as evidenced by estimates of path length and mean flow speed.