Cerebral Blood Flow Variations by pCASL Corroborates Clinical Neurobehavioral Scores in a Canine Model of Hypothermic Circulatory Arrest

Motivation: Cerebral injury following deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (HCA) remains an important clinical problem in cardiac surgery. Investigating mechanisms of neuroprotection and establishing clinically efficient means to assess acute brain injury following HCA has been the cornerstone of our laboratory's work. Goal(s): Identify mechanism of cerebral injury following HCA. Establish accurate and efficient mechanisms for diagnosing acute brain injury following HCA. Approach: Double blinded, prospective, randomized large animal study using canines and multiple neurobehavioral testing instruments including clinically validated methods and pCASL MR imaging. Results: Cerebral blood flow corroborates with clinically validated neurobehavioral scoring instruments in a canine model of HCA. Impact: By employing highly effective mechanisms for acute brain injury diagnosis and matching these with ongoing RO1-funded mechanism of neuroprotection following HCA, we aim to impact all cardiac patients in the world who may need deep hypothermic circulatory arrest.