Non-Invasive Quantification of Absolute Cerebral Blood Volume

Pelin Aksit Ciris¹, Maolin Qiu¹, Robert Todd Constable¹

Non-invasive absolute CBV quantification could foster improved understanding of fMRI signal mechanisms, and potentially find clinical utility in evaluating vascular state, damage, and monitoring treatments. A non-invasive method based on a biophysical model and multi-slice acquisition with varying contrast weightings, with efficient multi-slice imaging using a rotating slice acquisition, is introduced. The method was evaluated by fitting to a slight change in data and model parameters with activation. Consistent and physiologically expected CBV estimates were obtained in mL of blood / 100mL of parenchyma in normal human volunteers. Results indicate feasibility of non-invasive quantification applicable to the whole human brain.