Quantifying the Cerebral Hemodynamic Changes in Hypertensive Patients Using 3D Pseudo-continuous Arterial Spin Labeling.

Objective To investigate the cerebral hemodynamic changes in hypertensive patients using 3D pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling(3D pCASL).Methods Fifty-eight hypertensive subjects and thirty-four age-matched healthy volunteers were recruited and scanned using the 3D whole-brain pCASL sequence.The regional cerebral blood flow(CBF)values were achieved based on 3D pCASL with SPM8 technique and were manually drawn. Results Compared with healthy volunteers,hypertensive patients had significantly lower CBF values in various regions,with statistical difference at the bilateral centrum semiovale(P=0.000,P=0.000),periventricular white matter(P=0.001,P=0.002),splenium of corpus callosum(P=0.003),frontal lobe(P=0.003),parietal lobe(P=0.014),occipital lobe(P=0.002),temporal lobe(P=0.006),medulla(P=0.012),pons(P=0.016),midbrain(P=0.034),cerebellum(P=0.000),and gray matter(P=0.001).Nevertheless,the CBF values in the thalami,globus pallidus,putamen,and genu of corpus callosum demonstrated no significant inter-group difference(all P>0.05).Conclusions 3D pCASL can be used to detect the subtle hemodynamic abnormalities even at the early stage of hypertension.The observed decrease in CBF in these regions may suggest an increased risk of cerebral small vessel diseases.