The Study of 3D-ASL in Assessing Cerebral Blood Flow in Normal Persons

Objective: With the increasing incidence of stroke which is due to the reduction of cerebral blood flow, the quantitative measurement of cerebral blood flow is very important. There are a variety of quantitative detection methods of cerebral blood flow, the commonly used quantitative detection methods are PET and SPECT, but there is radiation of the above detection methods, and the operation is complex. The purpose of this study is to measure cerebral blood flow of normal persons by three-dimensional magnetic resonance arterial spin labeling technique (3 D-ASL). Methods: Sixty-three health persons, who were divided into group A (< 60 years) and group B (≥ 60 years) according to age. The average age of group A was 36 years (including 14 males and 19 females), the average age of group B was 69 years (including 12 males and 18 females), accepted examinations including routine MRI, 3 D-T1 and 3 D-ASL sequences. We got the cerebral blood flow maps and matched it with the 3 D-T1 images. The CBF values of every part of brain were measured, and the variance analysis method was used to compare the CBF values of every lobe, basal ganglia and cerebral hemisphere between the two groups. Results: There was significant differences of the CBF values in frontal lobe and parietal lobe between left and right hemispheres in two groups (P<0.05). A significant difference of the CBF values of bilateral cerebral hemispheres, frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, occipital lobe and basal ganglia was found between group A and group B (P<0.05). The average value of group A was higher than that of group B. The CBF values of bilateral cerebral hemispheres of female group were significantly higher than that of male group. There was a significant difference among the frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, occipital lobe and basal ganglia of CBF value in the same person (P<0.05). Conclusion: The 3 D-ASL can be used to evaluate the cerebral blood flow in health persons, and the CBF value was significantly affected by age, gender and location.