Brown Gregory G, Clark Camellia, Liu Thomas T
Psychology Service, VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, California 92161, USA.
J Int Neuropsychol Soc. 2007 May;13(3):526-38. doi: 10.1017/S1355617707070634.
Arterial spin labeling (ASL) uses magnetic resonance imaging methods to measure cerebral blood flow (CBF) non-invasively. ASL CBF validly localizes brain function and may be especially useful for studies where the time frame of behavioral change is more than a few minutes, such as in longitudinal and treatment studies. ASL measures of cerebral perfusion are highly accurate in detecting lesion laterality in temporal lobe epilepsy, stenotic-occlusive disease, and brain tumors. Among lesioned patients, ASL CBF has excellent concurrent validity when correlated with CBF measured by Positron Emission Tomography or with dynamic susceptibility-weighted magnetic resonance. ASL CBF can predict tumor grading in vivo and can predict six-month response to the surgical treatment of brain tumors. ASL's capability to selectively and non-invasively tag flow in major vessels may refine the monitoring of treatment of cerebrovascular disease and brain tumors. Conclusions about the utility of ASL are limited by the small sample sizes of the studies currently in the literature and by the uncertainty caused by the effect of brain disease on transit times of the magnetic tag. As the method evolves, ASL techniques will likely become more widely used in clinical research and practice.
动脉自旋标记（ASL）利用磁共振成像方法无创测量脑血流量（CBF）。ASL测量的CBF能够有效地定位脑功能，对于行为变化时间框架超过几分钟的研究可能特别有用，例如纵向研究和治疗研究。ASL测量的脑灌注在检测颞叶癫痫、狭窄闭塞性疾病和脑肿瘤的病变侧别方面具有高度准确性。在病变患者中，当ASL测量的CBF与正电子发射断层扫描测量的CBF或动态磁敏感加权磁共振测量的CBF相关时，具有出色的同时效度。ASL测量的CBF能够在体内预测肿瘤分级，并能够预测脑肿瘤手术治疗的六个月反应。ASL选择性地无创标记主要血管血流的能力可能会改善对脑血管疾病和脑肿瘤治疗的监测。目前文献中研究样本量较小以及脑部疾病对磁标记物通过时间影响所导致的不确定性限制了关于ASL效用的结论。随着该方法的发展，ASL技术可能会在临床研究和实践中得到更广泛的应用。
