Inventors:
Divya S. Bolar - Cambridge MA, US
Elfar Adalsteinsson - Belmont MA, US
Bruce R. Rosen - Lexington MA, US
A. Gregory Sorensen - Belmont MA, US
International Classification:
A61B 5/055
Abstract:
A system and method for accurately producing MR images of selected vascular compartments includes employing a control scan and a tag scan, each including velocity selective modules that suppress signal from blood flowing faster than a given cutoff velocity, to acquire control and tag sets of NMR data that may be subtracted to produce a compartment-specific MR image that is substantially free of information from stationary tissues and blood outside the selective vascular compartments. Accordingly, physiological parameters, such as oxygen saturation (SaO), oxygen extraction fraction (OEF), and cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO), can be generated from the compartment-specific images. Further still, kinetic curves of oxygen exchange can be created, thus providing detailed insight into oxygen exchange dynamics.