Dynamic Contrast Enhanced T1-weighted Perfusion MRI for Measuring Cerebral Perfusion Increase after Visual Stimulation

Introduction: Being able to measure cerebral perfusion and cerebral blood volume quantitatively is of great importance when it comes to diagnosing and treating various cerebrovascular diseases and other brain disorders. In a clinical setting, MR perfusion imaging is normally performed using dynamic susceptibility contrast imaging. When it comes to absolute quantification, this method has several weaknesses, including susceptibility artefacts and difficulties in obtaining good arterial input functions. A former study has shown that absolute values for cerebral perfusion can be obtained using dynamic contrast enhanced imaging with a T1weighted sequence (1).