By observing the temporal evolution of a contrast agent in two or more reference tissues this software calculates both the arterial input function (AIF) and the kinetic parameters of the tissue samples. Normal tissues such as muscle, liver, or spleen can be used as the reference tissues. More importantly tumor tissue, due to its heterogeneous properties, can be used as multiple reference tissues. The kinetic parameters of a tissue are those parameters which determine the rate at which a contrast agent is absorbed and released to the blood. Changes in these parameters are an early indication of tumor response to treatment. The AIF is the concentration of contrast agent in the arterial blood plasma being supplied to a tissue. A direct measure of AIF is challenging and has been a hurdle for the broader application of DCE-MRI in drug development and cancer diagnosis. This method reduces errors in measurements of AIF to less than 10%. There are no a priori assumptions regarding the shape of the AIF curve. This method can also be used in other imaging modalities using a contrast media which is exchanged between blood plasma and tissues.

File Number: 1271 

Disease: Cancer