Correlation of regional cerebral blood flow from perfusion MRI and SPECT in normal subjects

The objective of this study was to determine the relationship in regional c erebral blood flow (rCBF) as measured,vith perfusion magnetic resonance ima ging (pMRI) and single photon emission computer tomography (SPECT), rCBF wa s determined in 26 healthy subjects with pMRI and SPECT. After co registrat ion of pMRI with SPECT, rCBF was determined in 10 brain regions relative to the whole slice value, pMRI was evaluated with and without elimination of large vessels, rCBF from pMRI correlates significantly with rCBF from SPECT (r = 0.69 with and 0.59 without elimination of large vessels; p < 0.0001 f or both). Elimination of large vessels reduced the interindividual variance of the pMRI measurements in most regions. rCBF from pMRI shows good correl ation with rCBF from SPECT, Because pMRI is sensitive to flow in large vess els while SPECT is not, elimination of large vessels in pMRI reduces the in terindividual variability of pMRI and improves the correlation between the two methods. pMRI is a reliable noninvasive method for rCBF measurements. ( C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc.