The diagnostic value of PCASL MRI technique in evaluating post-operative recurrence of cerebellopontine angle tumor

Objective:The purpose of this study was to assess the diagnostic value of 3DFSE pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling(pCASL)technique in evaluating post-operative recurrence of cerebellopontine angle tumor.Methods:21post-operative patients with cerebellopontine angle tumor underwent pre-and post-contrast MRI scans.Perfusion-weighted MR imaging(PWI)with pCASL technique was performed before contrast injection.The CBF maps generated from pCASL were fused with post-contrast 3D T1 WI.The CBF values of abnormal enhanced area and contralateral normal brain tissue were measured and statistically analyzed to assess whether there was a recurrence of the neoplasm.Results:The neoplasm recurrence was found in 13/21 cases.DSC-PWI failed to generate functional maps in 17/21 cases due to the susceptibility artifact;however,all 21 cases successfully underwent pCASL scan using 3D-FSE sequence.The mean CBF values were(64.2±3.03)mL/100g/min for the recurrent neoplasm and(52.5±1.89)mL/100g/min for the contralateral normal brain tissue,respectively.There was statistically significant difference(t=12.498,P0.05).Conclusion:With several advantages,including non-invasive,non-contrast and free of susceptibility effect,3DpCASL technique can be used to assess the tumor recurrence in cerebellopontine angle.