Abstract
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, values normalized the total amount of gray and white matter were computed [ml/min/100mg].
Results:
Mean TCBF values and normalized CBF values were significantly higher in adolescents compared to young adults (mean TCBF 88 vs. 77ml/min, p<; mean normalized TCBF XX vs. XX ml/min/100mg, p<)
Conclusion:
TCBF reduces at a higher rate between adolescents and young adults than in the course of later adultshood.