Cerebral perfusion, also referred to as cerebral blood flow (CBF), is one of the most important parameters related to brain physiology and function. The technique of dynamic-susceptibility contrast (DSC) MRI is currently the most commonly used MRI method to measure perfusion. It relies on the intravenous injection of a contrast agent and the rapid measurement of the transient signal changes during the passage of the bolus through the brain. Central to quantification of CBF using this technique is the so-called arterial input function (AIF), which describes the contrast agent input to the tissue of interest. Due to its fundamental role, there has been a lot of progress in recent years regarding how and where to measure the AIF, how it influences DSC-MRI quantification, what artefacts one should avoid, and the design of automatic methods to measure the AIF. The AIF is also directly linked to most of the major sources of artefacts in CBF quantification, including partial volume effect, bolus delay and dispersion, peak truncation effects, contrast agent non-linearity, etc. While there have been a number of good review articles on DSC-MRI over the years, these are often comprehensive but, by necessity, with limited in-depth discussion of the various topics covered. This review article covers in greater depth the issues associated with the AIF and their implications for perfusion quantification using DSC-MRI.

中文翻译：

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灌注 MRI 中的动脉输入功能：综合评价

脑灌注，也称为脑血流量 (CBF)，是与脑生理和功能相关的最重要参数之一。动态磁敏感对比 (DSC) MRI 技术是目前最常用的 MRI 测量灌注方法。它依赖于静脉注射造影剂和快速测量推注通过大脑期间的瞬态信号变化。使用这种技术量化 CBF 的核心是所谓的动脉输入函数 (AIF)，它描述了对感兴趣组织的造影剂输入。由于其基本作用，近年来在如何以及在何处测量 AIF、它如何影响 DSC-MRI 量化、应避免哪些人工制品方面取得了很多进展，以及测量 AIF 的自动方法的设计。AIF 还与 CBF 量化中的大多数主要伪影来源直接相关，包括部分体积效应、推注延迟和分散、峰值截断效应、造影剂非线性等。 虽然已经有许多优秀的评论文章多年来关于 DSC-MRI 的讨论，这些通常是全面的，但必然地，对所涵盖的各种主题的深入讨论有限。这篇评论文章更深入地介绍了与 AIF 相关的问题及其对使用 DSC-MRI 进行灌注量化的影响。虽然这些年来有许多关于 DSC-MRI 的优秀评论文章，但这些文章通常很全面，但必然地，对所涵盖的各种主题的深入讨论有限。这篇评论文章更深入地介绍了与 AIF 相关的问题及其对使用 DSC-MRI 进行灌注量化的影响。虽然这些年来有许多关于 DSC-MRI 的优秀评论文章，但这些文章通常很全面，但必然地，对所涵盖的各种主题的深入讨论有限。这篇评论文章更深入地介绍了与 AIF 相关的问题及其对使用 DSC-MRI 进行灌注量化的影响。