Abstract #2217

Assessment of Cerebral Blood Flow in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis using Arterial Spin Labeling MR Imaging

Sumei Wang¹, Lu Wang¹, Hengyi Rao², Zhengjun Li², Lauren B. Elman³, Leo F. McCluskey³, Elias R. Melhem¹, Danny J. J. Wang⁴, John H. Woo¹

¹Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States; ²Neurology, Center for Functional Neuroimaging, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States; ³Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States; ⁴Neurology, Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the utility of ASL for the detection of CBF abnormalities in patients with ALS. Twenty patients with ALS and 9 normal subjects were included in this study. Significantly reduced CBF in ALS patients compared with healthy subjects was found in bilateral sensorimotor cortex, superior temporal lobe, left anterior cingulate gyrus, calcarine and precuneus cortex. Our study indicates that ASL perfusion may be used as a potential biomarker for the diagnosis and monitoring of disease progression in ALS.