Partial volume effect compensation for improved reliability of quantitative blood-brain barrier permeability

The issue of PV averaging as a result of limited spatial resolution is often not addressed in quantitative MRI studies. In this work, simulation experiments have provided useful insight into the PV effects on permeability coefficient estimate. The findings of the simulation experiments agree well with the results obtained from MR experiments. Results from the MR experiments suggest that it may be important to perform PV compensation in order to improve the reliability of permeability coefficient estimates. Future work involves classification of tissue component into gray and white matter and CSF to improve the accuracy of the compensation technique and to investigate repeatability of the technique in a larger group of animals.