Year: 2018
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Many diseases have shown to be caused or triggered following microvascular endothelial dysfunction, such as coronary artery disease, diabetes, and hypertension. Currently, blood flow is used as the main measurement to assess vasomodulation. It has however been proven to not be accurate as many other factors must be considered. This dissertation presents a mathematical model to assess vasomodulation in low perfusion tissue using MRI. It was developed by taking the first-order derivative of the T1 relaxation times (ΔT1) from a series of T1-weighted images of rat’s kidneys (high perfusion tissue) and leg muscles (low perfusion tissue). A gas protocol was used to assess vasoconstriction with a severe hypercapnic condition and vasodilation with a mild hypercapnic condition. The gas mixtures were administered using a fixed inspired concentration delivery technique. Perfusion measurements using Doppler flowmetry were obtained as validation to the model. Every vasomodulatory scenario with detailed analysis of the ΔT1 plots are covered.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Eric Zakher
Language: English
Subfield: Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: University of Toronto
OpenAlex ID: W2938326013