Multimodal evaluation of cerebral hemodynamics using Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Diffuse correlation spectroscopy

• Grant number: 24/21056-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2025
• End date: August 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Medical Radiology
• Principal Investigator: André Monteiro Paschoal
• Grantee: Giovanna Hoffmann Silva
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin (IFGW). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 22/06496-7 - Non-invasive MRI measurements of water exchange across the blood-brain and blood-cerebrospinal fluid barriers and the link to brain clearance mechanisms, AP.GR

Abstract

Given the importance of proper brain function, the study of cerebral hemodynamics has been increasingly discussed and is gaining prominence today. This is because measurements such as cerebral blood perfusion can provide faster and more accurate diagnoses of diseases related to the patient's cerebral blood flow.Therefore, methods like Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL) from Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy (DCS) from Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS), which fall under the classification of non-invasive techniques and are thus highly valuable for implementation, will be the focus of this project. The complementarity of these two techniques in measuring cerebral hemodynamics will be studied, considering that using NIRS would be advantageous due to its portability and low acquisition cost.With this, we aim to obtain promising blood flow measurements from DCS, which will be compared to the gold standard MRI technique, ASL. This will explore the complementarity of these two techniques, as DCS could provide advancements in terms of portability and acquisition cost. (AU)