Imaging the Effects of Oxygen Saturation Changes in Voluntary Apnea and Hyperventilation on Susceptibility-Weighted Imaging

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Cerebrovascular oxygenation changes during respiratory challenges have clinically important implications for brain function, including cerebral autoregulation and the rate of brain metabolism. SWI is sensitive to venous oxygenation level by exploitation of the magnetic susceptibility of deoxygenated blood. We assessed cerebral venous blood oxygenation changes during simple voluntary breath-holding (apnea) and …