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Hyperpolarized (13)C MR Angiography

2016

Abstract: Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) is a non-invasive technology that can be used for diagnosis andmonitoring of cardiovascular disease; the number one cause of mortality worldwide.Hyperpolarized imaging agents provide signal enhancement of more than 10, 000 times, which implies large reductionin acquisition time and improved spatial resolution. We review the role of hyperpolarized 13C agents for MRangiography and present the literature in the field. Furthermore, we present a study of the benefit of intra-arterialinjection over intravenous injection of hyperpolarized agent for cerebral angiography in the rat, and compare theperformance of two standard angiographic pulse sequences, the gradient echo (GRE) sequence and the balancedsteady-state free precession (bSSFP).2D coronal cerebral angiographies using intra-arterial injections were acquired with a GRE sequence with in-plane resolution of 0.27 mmand matrix size 256x128, and 2D coronal cerebral angiographies were acquired with a bSSFP sequence with in-plane resolution of 0.55mm and matrix size 128x64.The bSSFP sequence provides higher SNR in phantoms than the GRE sequence. Similarly, intravenous injections are imaged with higherSNR with the bSSFP sequence, where the signal destruction of the GRE sequence is avoided. However, for intra-arterial injections, thebSSFP sequence results in strong artefacts, and the GRE sequence is preferred.Hyperpolarized MRA presents many challenges and cannot currently compete with conventional contrast enhanced MRA. Further researchmay change this since hyperpolarization is still an immature methodology.