Alan J. Huang1,2, Li An3, Jun
Hua1, Manus Donahue4, Steven Warach3, Peter
van Zijl1
1FM Kirby Research Center,
Johns Hopkins University, BALTIMORE, MD, United States; 2Department
of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United
States; 3National Institute of Neurological Disorders &
Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States; 4Department
of Radiology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
Acute stroke patients require a rapid and individualized diagnosis to evaluate whether thrombolysis treatment is necessary. Vascular Space Occupancy (VASO) MRI is a non-invasive technique that allows for imaging of increased microvascular blood volume, a marker for tissue at risk of infarction. An initial evaluation of five patients imaged within 7 hrs post-ischemic onset shows that VASO can be used to assess CBV increases in white matter. Our results show that VASO can potentially spatially localize the ischemic penumbra better than current perfusion weighted imaging.