The study on assessment of cerebral blood flow by arterial spin labeling magnetic resonance imaging in hyperthyroidism patients

SUN Na; YAO Jian; WANG Bao; LIU Yingchao; ZHAO Bin

Abstract：Objective To explore whether arterial spin labeling(ASL) technique was an appropriate tool to assess conditions of cerebral perfusion in hyperthyroidism patients (HTP) Besides, we would analyze the difference of cerebral perfusion between HTP and healthy volunteers. Methods Seventeen HTP and sixteen healthy volunteers as control matched for age,sex,education were performed conventional MR imaging and three dimensional pseudocontinuous ASL (3D-pCASL), the cerebral blood flow (CBF) values of each brain region in HTP and controls were measured. Results Compared with control group,HTP had signifi-cantly decreased CBF values in bilateral frontal lobe,temporal lobe,occipital lobe,basal ganglia and hippocampus areas. (all P<0.05,the p value ofbilateral frontal lobe,bilateral occipital lobe,left basal ganglia,right temporal lobe,left hippocampus are-as was <0.01). CBF of right frontal lobe was positively correlated with concentration of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH)( r=0.7820,P <0.05);CBF of every brain region in HTP was not significantly correlated with concentration of free triiodothyro-nine (FT3) and free thyroxine(FT4);CBF of each brain region in HTP was not significantly correlated with concentration of thy-rotropin receptor antibody(TRAb),too;CBF of right basal ganglia,right parietal lobe,left parietal lobe was positively correlated with disease duration ( r =0.7576,r =0.7576,r =0.8257,all P <0.05). Conclusion ASL is appropriate for assessment of conditions of cerebral perfusion in HTP,among whom an obvious reduction of blood perfusion is demonstrated in bilateral frontal lobes,temporal lobes,occipital lobes,basal ganglia and hippocampus areas. The conditions of perfusion in right lobes of HTP are sensitive to the level of TSH and that in right basal ganglia and bilateral parietal lobes depend on the course of disease.