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• Clinical Article •
Hemodynamic study of white matter hyperintensities using multi-delay arterial spin labeling
YOU Meng  WU Lin  JIN Cheng  DAI Jiankun  ZHOU Fuqing 

DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.05.005.


[Abstract] Objective To utilize multidelay arterial spin labeling (MDASL) technology to evaluate the hemodynamic characteristics of gray matter in patients with varying severities of white matter hyperintensities (WMH).Materials and Methods A total of 66 eligible participants were enrolled in this study and were categorized into a control group (Fazekas score = 0, n = 22), a mild WMH group (Fazekas score = 1-2, n = 23), and a moderate-to-severe WMH group (Fazekas score = 3-6, n = 21) based on the total Fazekas score. All subjects underwent conventional 3.0 T cranial MRI and MDASL scans. The MDASL sequence, which included seven post labeling delays, was used to obtain parametric maps of cerebral blood flow (CBF), arterial transit time (ATT), and arterial cerebral blood volume (aCBV). The Automated Anatomical Labeling Atlas 3 was employed to extract perfusion parameter values corresponding to various brain regions, facilitating the comparison of hemodynamic differences among the groups.Results (1) No statistically significant differences were observed in the average CBF and aCBV values across all brain regions among the three groups (P > 0.05); (2) ATT analysis revealed that the brain regions with statistically significant differences among the three groups were the right ventral tegmental area (F = 9.813, P = 0.034) and the right substantia nigra pars reticulata (F = 9.327, P = 0.048), while no significant differences were found in the remaining brain regions (P > 0.05). Post hoc pairwise comparisons showed that the moderate-to-severe WMH group exhibited higher ATT values in the right ventral tegmental area and the right substantia nigra pars reticulata compared with both the control group and the mild WMH group (P < 0.05).Conclusions With increasing WMH burden, there was no significant change in gray matter CBF or aCBV. However, ATT was prolonged in the right ventral tegmental area and right substantia nigra pars reticulata, suggesting that ATT prolongation occurs earlier and independently of changes in CBF and aCBV. ATT may serve as a supplementary indicator for hemodynamic assessment in cerebral small vessel disease.
[Keywords] cerebral small vessel disease；white matter hyperintensities；magnetic resonance imaging；magnetic resonance perfusion imaging；arterial spin labeling；multidelay technique

YOU Meng1   WU Lin1   JIN Cheng1   DAI Jiankun2   ZHOU Fuqing1*  

1 Imaging Center of the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory for Precision Pathology and Intelligent Diagnosis, Nanchang 330006, China

2 General Electric Medical Systems Trade Development (Shanghai) Co., Ltd, Shanghai 200000, China

Corresponding author: ZHOU F Q, E-mail: ndyfy02301@ncu.edu.cn

Conflicts of interest   None.

Received  2025-11-28
Accepted  2026-03-19
DOI: 10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.05.005
DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.05.005.

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