Dynamic Susceptibility Contrast Imaging Study of the Healthy Brain using Multiparametric Classification

Moran Artzi^1,2, Orna Aizenstein³, Talma Hendler^1,2, Dafna Ben Bashat¹

The characterization and quantification of dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) imaging is important for clinical interpretation, though this calls for a reliable healthy reference. In this study, an unsupervised multiparametric method was used to classify brain tissue and a defined brain vascular territories template was used to study perfusion parameters in 25 healthy subjects. Three brain clusters were defined and classified as white matter, gray matter and major blood vessels. Perfusion parameters were significantly different between tissue types and between vascular territories. The unsupervised clustering method enabled tissue classification and may have a wide range of clinical applications.