# Development and Evaluation of Advanced Non-Contrast Perfusion MRI for Monitoring Treatment Response in Brain Metastases

> **NIH NIH R01** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $611,040

## Abstract

Project Abstract
 Brain metastases (BM) are the most commonly diagnosed type of central nervous system tumor, more
frequent than primary intracranial neoplasms. Progress on various therapies have accelerated over the past
decade through ongoing clinical trials, and the historically poor outcomes for patients with BM have been
markedly improved. Contrast-enhanced T1-weighted MRI is routinely applied to depict BM with the size of the
enhanced lesions for assessing treatment response. Lesion enhancement due to the disruption of blood-brain
barrier is rather nonspecific of the functions of brain tumors. The most studied MRI methodology for perfusion
measurement is dynamic susceptibility contrast perfusion weighted imaging (DSC-PWI), which measures
cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral blood volume (CBV). CBV is the widely adopted perfusion measure as
a sensitive marker of tumor vascularity. However, its clinical applicability in BM studies is hampered by its lack
of absolute quantification, the contrast-leakage effect, and frequent susceptibility artifacts. Arterial spin labeling
(ASL) is ideal for frequent non-invasive longitudinal monitoring of tumor vascularity. The standardized spatially
selective ASL technique for CBF mapping is the pseudo-continuous ASL (PCASL) method using a single post-
labeling delay, which may render underestimation of CBF due to transit time delay caused by slow arterial flow
typical in elderly patients. Velocity-selective ASL (VSASL) was proposed to remove the time-delay sensitivity.
Our group has implemented the first velocity-selective inversion (VSI) based VSASL with 3D segmented
GRASE acquisition and demonstrated its higher sensitivity to perfusion signal over conventional ASL methods.
Additionally, our group first developed VSASL based CBV mapping by removing labeling delay, which delivered
much higher SNR than ASL based CBF mapping. Furthermore, our preliminary data showed that VSASL
with 3D stack-of-spiral based FLASH acquisition delivered better perfusion image quality with less artifacts
than using GRASE, and high temporal resolution potentially allowing adequate retrospective motion correction.
The purpose of this study is: Aim 1, to conduct further technical developments for VSASL based CBF and CBV
mapping protocols with accelerated acquisitions; Aim 2, to evaluate the sensitivity of the two optimized VSASL
protocols to CBF and CBV changes within a month after the radiation therapy, and assess their early prediction
to treatment outcomes; Aim 3, to compare the specificity of VSASL derived CBF and CBV values in the
distinction of metastatic recurrence from radiation-induced effects; Aim 4, to ensure high reproducibility of the
VSASL protocols between multiple scanners with different vendors and field strength. By completing the
proposed aims, the advanced VSASL based CBF and CBV mapping methods are expected to demonstrate
important values for monitoring treatment response in BM, will be readily available for la...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10914899
- **Project number:** 5R01CA282928-02
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Qin Qin
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $611,040
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-09-01 → 2025-04-14

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10914899

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10914899, Development and Evaluation of Advanced Non-Contrast Perfusion MRI for Monitoring Treatment Response in Brain Metastases (5R01CA282928-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10914899. Licensed CC0.

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