Assessment of cerebral perfusion in TIAS with unilateral middle cerebral artery stenosis using arterial spin labeling

Objective: To discuss the diagnostic value of arterial spin labeling (ASL) in the transient ischemic attack (TIA) patients with unilateral middle cerebral artery (MCA) stenosis by comparing the differences of perfusion results between dynamic susceptibility contrast enhancement (DSC) and ASL in the perfusion evaluation of unilateral MCA stenosis, and to prove that ASL would be a promising method to assess cerebral hemodynamics in future. Methodology: The images of diffusion weighted imaging (DWI), DSC and ASL in 36 cases of TIA patients with unilateral MCA stenosis and 35 healthy volunteers were analyzed retrospectively to assess collateral flow in the circle of Willis, and to analyze the perfusion differences between ASL and DSC. Results: The perfusion differences between lesion side and contralateral side were significant in both DSC (P 0.01) and ASL (P 0.05). Whereas, the differences of CBF between DSC and ASL in the perfusion evaluation of unilateral MCA stenosis were not significant, P 0.05. Conclusion: ASL can provide valuable information on the quality of brain perfusion in patients with unilateral middle cereral artery stenosis. Therefore, ASL may be an alternative method in the assessment of perfusion in ischemic cerebral vascular diseases.