Comparison of cerebral blood volume maps generated from T2* and T1 weighted MRI data in intra-axial cerebral tumours.

We compared parametric maps, measured values and value distributions of cerebral blood volume (CBV) derived from (1) first pass T1 weighted dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) data (T1-CBV) using the recently described leakage profile model and (2) conventional T2* weighted DCE data (T2*-CBV) using a conventional curve fitting technique, in nine patients with intraaxial tumours. Regions of interest were defined around enhancing tumour tissue on matched slices. Median tumour values and conspicuity indexes of CBV from the two techniques were compared, demonstrating good correlation (r = 0.667,p<0.05) in enhancing tumour and no significant difference in conspicuity. Pixel-by-pixel scattergrams of values in normal brain in a representative matched slice were produced for each case, which showed excellent correlation (r = 0.96,p<0.001). Distortion of blood vessels around susceptibility interfaces was evident on T2* CBV but not on T1 CBV maps. Leakage-free T1 CBV maps do not suffer from the susceptibility artifacts seen in T2* CBV maps, although they present comparable biological information.