A model system for perfusion quantification using FAIR

Flow-sensitive experiments (FAIR) have been performed on a tube-flow phanto m in order to validate quantitative perfusion measurements on humans. A str aight-forward correspondence between perfusion and bulk-flow is found. It i s shown that the flow phantom model only holds when the slice profiles of t he involved RF pulses are taken into account. A small how independent off-s et may be present in the data. The off-set is explained by the model. Based on the correspondence between the phantom and the in vivo models, it is sh own that the lowest flow values that could be measured in the phantom corre spond to perfusion values lower than the cortical perfusion in the brain. T hus, the experimental accuracy and the computational methods for quantitati ve perfusion measurements in vivo can be validated by a tube-flow phantom. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.