Optimizing Perfusion Imaging of Brain Tumors: Validation of Venous Output Function Used as a Surrogate AIF

Claire Foottit¹, Greg O. Cron¹, Jean Francois Mercier¹, Viviane Thanh-Van Nguyen², Ian Cameron¹, Mark E. Schweitzer¹, John Sinclair¹, John Woulfe¹, Matthew J. Hogan³, Thanh B. Nguyen¹

In DCE-MRI studies of human brain tumors, a suitable artery for the arterial input function (AIF) is often not available or is insufficiently large. The venous output function (VOF) in the superior sagittal sinus is often used as a surrogate AIF. However, to our knowledge no DCE-MRI study has ever validated this practice for high-temporal-resolution data. In this work, we acquired phase-derived AIFs and VOFs simultaneously during DCE-MRI studies, with the hypothesis that tumor tracer kinetic parameters would be equivalent using either vascular function. The data support the use of a VOF in place of the AIF.