Consistency and impact factors of FLAIR vascular hyperintensity and arterial transit artifact on three-dimensional arterial spin labeling imaging of unilateral middle cerebral artery stenosis or occlusion / 中国医学影像技术

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the consistency between FLAIR vascular hyperintensity (FVH) and arterial transit artifact (ATA) on three-dimensional arterial spin labeling (3D-ASL) imaging in patients with unilateral middle cerebral artery (MCA) stenosis or occlusion. Methods: Forty-two patients with MCA stenosis or occlusion underwent multimodal MR scanning included T2 FLAIR and 3D-ASL imaging. The incidence of FVH on T2 FLAIR and ATA on 3D-ASL in post labeling delay (PLD)=1.5 s and PLD=2.5 s was counted, and the differences of FVH and ATA were compared. The correlation of FVH, ATA with degree of vascular stenosis and clinical data were analyzed. Results: There was no statistical difference of incidence between FVH and ATA in patients with unilateral MCA stenosis or occlusion when PLD=1.5 s and PLD= 2.5 s, respectively (χ2=3.96, 3.80, P=0.77, 0.30). The incidence of FVH (r=0.30, P<0.05) and ATA (PLD=1.5 s r=0.35, P<0.05; PLD=2.5 s r=0.41, P<0.05) positively correlated with the degree of vascular stenosis. Binary Logistic regression analysis showed that age, systolic blood pressure and high density lipoprotein had negative impact on FVH and ATA. Conclusion: FVH has consistency with ATA in patients with unilateral MCA stenosis or occlusion, both of them can be used as indicators to observe collateral circulation.