Noncontrast assessment of blood-brain barrier permeability to water: improved reliability and spatial specificity

Motivation: Assessment of blood-brain-barrier (BBB) permeability has received intense interest in neurofluid and neurodegeneration studies. Goal(s): To improve the WEPCAST MRI technique for the measurement of water BBB permeability in a region-specific manner. Approach: A generalized venous signal (GVS) model was proposed to estimate the BBB permeability in the superior sagittal sinus (SSS) and straight sinus (SS), providing both cortical and subcortical BBB permeability. Results: BBB permeability estimated from the GVS method has higher inter-subject and inter-session reliability compared to the existing method. Subcortical BBB permeability is feasible using SS WEPCAST MRI based on the GVS model. Impact: Non-contrast WEPCAST MRI based on the generalized venous signal model can reliably measure blood-brain-barrier permeability to water with spatial specificity, which has great potential in studying neurological diseases and relevant clinical applications.