Comparison of Cerebral Blood Flow Estimates in the Ischemic Area of Rat Brain Obtained with Dynamic Susceptibility Contrast and Continuous Arterial Spin Labeling

Abstract

Comparison of the cerebral blood flow (CBF) values obtained with continuous arterial spin labeling (CASL) and maximum ΔR₂^* with dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) was made in ischemic rat brain. The CBF values estimated with the CASL and DSC methods were first normalized by the average of the noninfarcted hemisphere in four male Sprague-Dawley rats. The size of the ischemic area was then estimated from the number of voxels under a given threshold. The ischemic area estimated from the DSC technique was statistically smaller than that obtained with the CASL technique (p<0.05) when CBF values were lower than 50% of the normal level. This result suggests that the CBF estimated with DSC may be overestimated in ischemic brain areas.