Improved quantification of cerebral vein oxygenation using partial volume correction

Purpose: Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) enables cerebral venous characterization and physiological measurements, such as oxygen extraction fraction (OEF). The exquisite sensitivity of QSM to deoxygenated blood makes it possible to image small veins; however partial volume effects must be addressed for accurate quantification. We present a new method, Iterative Cylindrical Fitting (ICF), to estimate voxel-based partial volume effects for susceptibility maps and use it to improve OEF quantification of small veins with diameters between 1.5 and 4 voxels.
Materials and Methods: Simulated QSM maps were generated to assess the performance of the ICF method over a range of vein geometries with varying echo times and noise levels. The ICF method was also applied to in vivo human brain data to assess the feasibility and behavior of OEF measurements compared to the maximum intensity voxel (MIV) method.

Results: Improved quantification of OEF measurements was achieved for vessels with contrast to noise greater than 3.0 and vein radii greater than 0.75 voxels. The ICF method produced improved quantitative accuracy of OEF measurement compared to the MIV approach (mean OEF error 7.7 vs. 12.4%). The ICF method provided estimates of vein radius (mean error <27%) and partial volume maps (root mean-squared error <13%). In vivo results demonstrated consistent estimates of OEF along vein segments.

Conclusion: OEF quantification in small veins (1.5–4 voxels in diameter) had lower error when using partial volume estimates from the ICF method.