Noninvasive Multi-Echo Vessel-Encoded Arterial Spin Labeling Reactivity for More Comprehensive Quantification of Hemodynamic Compensation: Development and Clinical Implementation in 50 Patients with Cerebrovascular Disease

Manus J. Donahue¹, Paul Clemmons¹, Ricardo Andal¹, Robert Singer¹, Diane Brown¹, Morgan Anderson¹, Dan Claassen¹, John Connors¹, Lisa Hermann¹, Lori Jordan¹, Howard Kirshner¹, J. Mocco¹, Ryan Moore¹, Anne O'Duffy¹, Derek Riebau¹, Allen Sills¹, Megan Strother¹

The purpose of this work is to develop and clinically implement a noninvasive MRI protocol for quantifying the relationship between key hemodynamic compensation mechanisms including cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR), baseline cerebral blood flow (CBF), CBF reactivity, and CBF territory dynamics in patients with cerebrovascular disease. This approach was implemented in 50 patients and results illuminated impairment not clear from structural imaging.