Diffusion and Perfusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Applications to Functional Mri

Researchers and clinicians alike will find this new volume an essential source for the latest information on the principles and applications of molecular diffusion and perfusion nuclear magnetic resonance imaging. The book is divided into two major sections. The first main section focuses on molecular diffusion, starting with a thorough review of the nature of the diffusion process. Subsequent chapters in this section explain the basic principles of diffusion measurements with nuclear magnetic resonance, describe various methods that are being explored to produce images of diffusion, and discuss important technical considerations as well as the effects on diffusion measurements of microdynamics and microstructure in biological tissues. This section concludes with an appraisal of current and potential clinical applications. The second section begins with an introduction to the concepts that led to perfusion imaging, as well as the basis of the main conventional methods used to evaluate tissue perfusion. The physical principles and fields of applications of the various nuclear magnetic resonance techniques that are used to study perfusion are covered. Other chapters examine magnetic labeling and the blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) contrast approach that resulted in the recent incursion of MRI into the field of functional brain imaging.