Distribution of Cerebral Blood Flow in the Nucleus Caudatus, Nucleus Lentiformis and Thalamus: A Territorial Arterial Spin Labeling Mri Study

Jeroen Hendrikse¹, Esben Thade Peteresen², Soke Miang Chng², Xavier Golay³

We investigate the effect of variations in the circle of Willis anatomy on the perfusion territory contributions to the deep brain structures.. Perfusion territory MRI could evaluate the deep brain structures in 119 of159 patients. In patients with a fetal type circle of Willis, there was a contribution from the ipsilateral ICA to the thalamus in all 41 hemispheres (100%), compared to 96 of the 197 hemispheres (49%) without a fetal type circle of Willis (p<0.01). In patients with a hypoplastic A1 segment, there was more often a contribution of the contralateral ICA to the ipsilateral deep brain structures.