Natenael B. Semmineh1,
Junzhong Xu1, Jerry Boxerman2, Gary W. Delaney3,
Christopher C. Quarles1
1Institute
of Imaging Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville , TN, United States; 2Alpert
Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, United States; 3CSIRO
Mathematical and Information Sciences, Clayton South, Vic, Australia
Brain tumor DSC-MRI studies can be confounded by extravascular T2* effects that occur when the contrast agent extravasates. The resulting signals are consequently influenced by the extravascular compartmentalization of the contrast agent and therefore may depend on the spatial distribution of tumor cells within tissue. Using simulations we demonstrate that the dependence of ∆R2* on tissue CA concentration is significantly influenced by to cell density. We also show that the spacing of cells and cellular cluster distribution within a voxel can alter ∆R2* values significantly for cell spacing variations on the order of the cell size.
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