Estimating perfusion using microCT to locate microspheres

Phys Med Biol. 2006 Jan 7;51(1):N9-16. doi: 10.1088/0031-9155/51/1/N02. Epub 2005 Dec 15.

Abstract

The injection of microspheres into the blood stream has been a common method to measure the spatial distribution of blood flow (perfusion). A technique to conduct this kind of measurement in small animal organs is presented using silver-coated microspheres with a diameter of 16 microm and high-resolution computed tomography (microCT) to detect individual microspheres. Phantom experiments demonstrate the detectability of individual spheres. The distribution of microspheres within a rat heart is given as an example. Using non-destructive, three-dimensional imaging for microsphere detection avoids the cumbersome dissection of the organ into samples or slices and their subsequent registration. The detection of individual spheres allows high-resolution measurements of perfusion and arbitrary definition of regions of interest. These, in turn, allow for accurate statistical analysis of perfusion such as relative dispersion curves.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Coronary Circulation
  • Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
  • Microspheres*
  • Models, Cardiovascular
  • Models, Statistical
  • Myocardium / pathology
  • Perfusion
  • Phantoms, Imaging
  • Rats
  • Regional Blood Flow
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed / methods*