従来,医療で用いられている画像診断装置の主な目的は,器官や組織レベルの解剖学的情報を収集し,そ の病的変化を検出することであった.本稿で取り扱う,生体内の拡散(Diffusion)と灌流(Perfusion)の測定 に高い関心が集まるのは,これら 2 つのパラメータが,細胞レベルの生理機能と構造にかかわる微視的な 生体情報であり,科学的,医学的に大きな意味を持っているからである.本稿では,Diffusion と Perfusion 測定の科学的,医学的な意義,臨床的有用性,そして測定の基礎理論に関して述べる. キーワード:磁気共鳴診断装置,拡散,灌流 Medical imaging modalities generally provide anatomical information at organ or tissue levels and allow detection of mainly morphological changes caused by disease. Measurement of diffusion and perfusion parameters in

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... ing body gives access to certain micro-structural and functional processes occurring at cellular level. Study of these phenomena is important both for basic science and medicine since many cellular processes are affected by various diseases long before gross anatomical changes. In this article, we start with basic introduction to diffusion and perfusion measurements and show utility of MRI diffusion and perfusion using real clinical example. After the introduction, more details about diffusion and perfusion measurement with MRI are given.