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

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

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physiology

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2024.1238533

DOI=10.3389/fphys.2024.1238533

ISSN=1664-042X

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> 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.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> 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.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> 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.</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> 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.</p>