Comparison of Blood Flow Measurement of Posterior Cerebral Circulation at Vertebral and Basilar Arteries Using Phase Contrast MRI

Phase contrast (PC) MRI provides a quantitative measurement of the total flux of blood flow. As it is not easy to find a perpendicular plane to the vertebral arteries (VA) at the base of the brain, especially in the elderly and people who developed tortuous arteries, we explored the alternative imaging location at the basilar artery (BA) where two VA merged in front of the pon. The flux of BA shows an excellent correlation (ρ=0.9, P<0.01) with that of VA, suggesting that BA is a practical choice for measuring the global blood flow of posterior cerebral circulation using PC MRI.