Inter-scanner reliability and reproducibility of three dimensional pseudo-continuous arterial spinlabeling MR perfusion of posterior circulation territory in healthy adults

Abstract

Objective To assess the inter-scanner reliability and reproducibility of 3D whole-brain pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (pCASL) of posterior circulation territory in healthy adults.Methods Twelve healthy subjects were scanned twice on two different 3.0 T MR scanners with 3D wholebrain pCASL technique.Intervals between tests were among 10-15 days.The ASL data with two post labeling delay time (PLD) of 1.5 and 2.5 seconds were acquired during every scanning.The cerebral blood flow (CBF) values of posterior circulation territory including cerebellum,midbrain,pons,medulla oblongata,thalamus and occipital lobe were extracted based on SPM technique for comparison.The interscanner reliability and reproducibility were evaluated with the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Bland-Altman plot.Results The CBF values of posterior circulation territory were 36-47 ml · min-1 ·100 g-1 (PLD =1.5 s) and 36-46 ml · min-1 · 100 g-1 (PLD =2.5 s).Comparing the data between the two tests,the ICC was 0.851 at PLD =1.5 s and 0.914 at PLD =2.5 s.The Bland-Altman showed the reproducibility at PLD =2.5 s was better than that at PLD =1.5 s.Conclusions The 3D whole-brain pCASL technique is available for measuring the CBF at posterior circulation territory with high reliability and reproducibility especially using longer PLD.It can be used for MR multicenter study on blood flow of posterior circulation territory. Key words: Magnetic resonance imaging; Reproducibility of results; Brain