Frontiers in Physiology (Apr 2024)

Transient deoxyhemoglobin formation as a contrast for perfusion MRI studies in patients with brain tumors: a feasibility study

  • Vittorio Stumpo,
  • Ece Su Sayin,
  • Ece Su Sayin,
  • Jacopo Bellomo,
  • Olivia Sobczyk,
  • Olivia Sobczyk,
  • Christiaan Hendrik Bas van Niftrik,
  • Martina Sebök,
  • Michael Weller,
  • Luca Regli,
  • Zsolt Kulcsár,
  • Athina Pangalu,
  • Andrea Bink,
  • James Duffin,
  • James Duffin,
  • David D. Mikulis,
  • Joseph A. Fisher,
  • Joseph A. Fisher,
  • Jorn Fierstra

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2024.1238533
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15

Abstract

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Background: Transient hypoxia-induced deoxyhemoglobin (dOHb) has recently been shown to represent a comparable contrast to gadolinium-based contrast agents for generating resting perfusion measures in healthy subjects. Here, we investigate the feasibility of translating this non-invasive approach to patients with brain tumors.Methods: A computer-controlled gas blender was used to induce transient precise isocapnic lung hypoxia and thereby transient arterial dOHb during echo-planar-imaging acquisition in a cohort of patients with different types of brain tumors (n = 9). We calculated relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV), cerebral blood flow (rCBF), and mean transit time (MTT) using a standard model-based analysis. The transient hypoxia induced-dOHb MRI perfusion maps were compared to available clinical DSC-MRI.Results: Transient hypoxia induced-dOHb based maps of resting perfusion displayed perfusion patterns consistent with underlying tumor histology and showed high spatial coherence to gadolinium-based DSC MR perfusion maps.Conclusion: Non-invasive transient hypoxia induced-dOHb was well-tolerated in patients with different types of brain tumors, and the generated rCBV, rCBF and MTT maps appear in good agreement with perfusion maps generated with gadolinium-based DSC MR perfusion.

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