Relationship between Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis and Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography Measurements Performed to Investigate Cerebral Arteries

Abstract

Purpose: The assessment of the cerebral perfusion volume using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is performed for patients with ischemic cerebral disease. In this study, we evaluated the cerebral blood flow volume by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis using normal blood vessels. This was compared with the cerebral perfusion volume measured on SPECT to evaluate the relationship between the two parameters.

Material and Methods: We investigated the normal-side blood vessels without lesions, such as stenosis/occlusion, in four patients with cerebrovascular disease in whom the cerebral perfusion volume was measured using SPECT. CFD analysis was conducted using the vascular geometry reconstructed from respective CTA images. The blood flow volume in the M2-anterior region as a percentage of the total middle cerebral artery blood flow volume was defined as the mass flow rate (MFR^*) on CFD and perfusion rate (PR^*) on SPECT. The two parameters were compared.

Results: In four patients with normal blood vessels, the MFR^*/PR^* ratio was ≤1. The MFR^* was approximately 0.30, whereas the PR^* was approximately 0.50; the results of measurements on SPECT were higher.

Conclusion: In normal blood vessels, the results of SPECT measurement were slightly higher than those of CFD analysis. In the future, the relationship between CFD and SPECT should be further investigated in a larger number of patients. CFD analysis may facilitate the estimation of the cerebral perfusion volume in cerebral metabolism on SPECT.