Hemodynamic imaging parameters in brain metastases patients – Agreement between multi-delay ASL and hypercapnic BOLD

This study compared baseline ASL with BOLD cerebrovascular reactivity (BOLD-CVR) parameters in the brain under different hemodynamic circumstances in patients with brain metastases. There was a strong relationship between baseline cerebral blood flow and BOLD-CVR measurements and the temporal metrics of ASL and BOLD-CVR. However, the relationship between baseline ASL and BOLD-CVR does not hold in tissue with exhausted cerebral autoregulation (i.e. vascular steal regions). Thereby, BOLD-CVR may be able to flag at-risk areas with depleted vascular reserve capacity before they become visible on ASL MRI.