Optimal design of pulsed arterial spin labeling MRI experiments

Quantitative measurement of cerebral blood flow (CBF) using arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI requires the acquisition of multiple inversion times (TIs) and the application of an appropriate kinetic model. The choice of these sampling times will have an impact on the precision of the estimated parameters. Here, optimal sampling schedule (OSS) design techniques, based on the Fisher Information approach, are applied in order to derive an optimal sampling scheme for pulsed arterial spin labeling (PASL) experiments. Such an approach should improve the precision of parameter estimation from experimental data, and provide a formal framework for optimally selecting a limited number of samples. In this study, we aimed to optimize the estimation precision of CBF and bolus arrival time from the PASL data. The performance of OSS was compared to a more standard evenly distributed sampling schedule (EDS) using both simulated and measured experimental data sets. It was found that OSS was able to significantly improve the precision of parameter estimation in PASL studies that sought to estimate either both CBF and bolus arrival time, or CBF alone. Magn Reson Med, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

[1]  J J DiStefano,et al.  Optimized blood sampling protocols and sequential design of kinetic experiments. , 1981, The American journal of physiology.

[2]  Xavier Golay,et al.  Determining the longitudinal relaxation time (T1) of blood at 3.0 Tesla , 2004, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[3]  Wen-Chau Wu,et al.  Intravascular effect in velocity-selective arterial spin labeling: The choice of inflow time and cutoff velocity , 2006, NeuroImage.

[4]  Peter Jezzard,et al.  Rapid T1 mapping using multislice echo planar imaging , 2001, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[5]  Daniel C Alexander,et al.  Optimal acquisition schemes for in vivo quantitative magnetization transfer MRI , 2006, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[6]  Yonathan Bard,et al.  Nonlinear parameter estimation , 1974 .

[7]  R. Buxton,et al.  Quantitative imaging of perfusion using a single subtraction (QUIPSS and QUIPSS II) , 1998 .

[8]  Norbert J Pelc,et al.  Cramér–Rao bounds for three‐point decomposition of water and fat , 2005, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[9]  L. Hall,et al.  Optimization of diffusion measurements using Cramer‐Rao lower bound theory and its application to articular cartilage , 2003, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[10]  A Method of Study of Radioactive Tracer Kinetics , 1979, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[11]  David Dagan Feng,et al.  A general algorithm for optimal sampling schedule design in nuclear medicine imaging , 2001, Comput. Methods Programs Biomed..

[12]  T. Daimon,et al.  Curvature‐adjusted optimal design of sampling times for the inference of pharmacokinetic compartment models , 2007, Statistics in medicine.

[13]  S Warach,et al.  A general kinetic model for quantitative perfusion imaging with arterial spin labeling , 1998, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[14]  D. Marquardt.  An Algorithm for Least-Squares Estimation of Nonlinear Parameters , 1963 .

[15]  J. Detre,et al.  Reduced Transit-Time Sensitivity in Noninvasive Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Human Cerebral Blood Flow , 1996, Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism.

[16]  J. Detre,et al.  Assessment of cerebral blood flow in Alzheimer's disease by spin‐labeled magnetic resonance imaging , 2000, Annals of neurology.

[17]  Claudio Cobelli,et al.  Optimal Design of Multioutput Sampling Schedules - Software and Applications to Endocrine - Metabolic and Pharmacokinetic Models , 1985, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[18]  J. DiStefano,et al.  Optimal nonuniform sampling interval and test-input design for identification of physiological systems from very limited data , 1979 .

[19]  M. Raichle,et al.  What is the Correct Value for the Brain-Blood Partition Coefficient for Water? , 1985, Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism.

[20]  Jonathan A. Jones.  Optimal Sampling Strategies for the Measurement of Relaxation Times in Proteins , 1997 .

[21]  Leon Aarons,et al.  Optimum blood sampling time windows for parameter estimation in population pharmacokinetic experiments , 2006, Statistics in medicine.

[22]  Donald S. Williams,et al.  Perfusion imaging , 1992, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[23]  S. Small,et al.  AN INTRODUCTION TO FUNCTIONAL MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING , 1999 .

[24]  W. J. Studden,et al.  Theory Of Optimal Experiments , 1972 .

[25]  D. Weinberger,et al.  Noise reduction in 3D perfusion imaging by attenuating the static signal in arterial spin tagging (ASSIST) , 2000, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[26]  D. S. Williams,et al.  Magnetic resonance imaging of perfusion using spin inversion of arterial water. , 1992, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.