Motivation: Cerebrovascular reactivity has emerged as one of the most promising biomarkers in vascular cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID), yet its measurement often requires CO2 inhalation and takes several minutes. Goal(s): To develop an EPI-based phase-contrast (PC) MRI as rapid cerebrovascular reactivity measurement that does not require CO2 inhalation. Approach: We validated EPI-based PC MRI with conventional cardiac-triggered acquisition. We demonstrated the ability of PC MRI in measuring cerebrovascular reactivity. Results: The results demonstrate that EPI-based PC MRI provides reliable CBF measurements when compared with conventional PC MRI. EPI PC MRI was able to measure cerebrovascular reactivity using both hypercapnia and breath-modulation challenges. Impact: This study could establish a quicker, more accessible real-time method for cerebrovascular reactivity assessment, improving early diagnosis and personalized monitoring of cerebrovascular conditions, especially for cognitive impairment and small vessel disease in clinical and research settings.
Sankaralayam et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
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