Background and Purpose-Established methods of ultrasonic perfusion imaging using a bolus application of echo contrast agent provide only qualitative data because of various physical phenomena. This study was intended to investigate whether a new ultrasound perfusion imaging method termed contrast burst depletion imaging (CODIM) may provide semiquantitative measures of parenchymal perfusion independent of examination depth and acoustic energy distribution. Methods-In a system with a constant concentration of contrast agent, analyzing the decrease in image intensity that occurs with microbubble-destructive imaging modes yields parameters that are considered to correlate with tissue perfusion. This method was first evaluated with a perfusion model that showed that the main resulting parameter "perfusion coefficient" (PC) is a monotonic nonlinear function of flow velocity. Seventeen human volunteers were then scanned according to this method with the use of 2 different contrast agents. Results were correlated with those from perfusion-weighted MRI examinations. Results-The PC did not show significant differences in gray matter areas (ranging from 1.466ϫ10Ϫ2 s Ϫ1 to 1.641ϫ10
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