Comparison of normalized total cerebral blood flow between adolescents and adults assessed by MR imaging

Purpose: During the course of adulthood and ageing, the total cerebral blood flow (tCBF) is known to decrease about 4% per decade. However, it is unclear whether this same rate applies to adolescents. Methods: We examined 6 adolescents (age range 14 to 16 years) and 15 young adults (age range 20 to 30 years) without neurological disorders on a 3T MR with velocity-encoding phase contrast scans. Cine-phase contrast techniques were used to measure the flow through the carotid and vertebral arteries. TCBF was obtained by summation of the mean blood flow. To account for the influence of the brain tissue volumes, valu…