MR-method for the in vivo measurement of temperature or pH-value by means of a hyperpolarised contrast agent
First Claim
1. A method of MR investigation of a sample, said method comprising:
- (i) nuclear spin polarising a MR imaging agent, wherein said agent is a high T1 agent and contains in its molecular structure at least two hyperpolarisable nuclei of the same type of MR imaging nuclei within the same molecule, having similar signal amplitudes, and wherein the frequency difference between the two resonance lines from said nuclei, δ
υ
, is dependent upon either the temperature, pH, pO2, pCO2, or ionic concentration of said sample;
(ii) administering the nuclear spin polarised MR imaging agent to said sample;
(iii) exposing said sample to a radiation at a frequency selected to excite nuclear spin transitions in selected nuclei therein;
(iv) detecting and manipulating magnetic resonance signals from said sample using a single-shot RARE acquisition sequence with shifted data acquisition, and wherein and excitation and detection steps iii) and iv) are such that said nuclei are all being excited and detected in the same sequence; and
(v) optionally generating an image, dynamic flow data, diffusion data or physiological and/or metabolic data from said detected signals.
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Abstract
The present invention provides a method of MR investigation of a sample, said method comprising: (i) nuclear spin polarizing a high T1 MR imaging agent which contains in its molecular structure at least two hyperpolarisable nuclei within the same molecule, the frequency difference between the two resonance lines from said nuclei, δυ, being dependent upon either the temperature or the pH of said sample; (ii) administering the nuclear spin polarized MR imaging agent to said sample; (iii) exposing said sample to a radiation at a frequency selected to excite nuclear spin transitions in said MR imaging agent; and (iv) detecting and manipulating magnetic resonance signals from said sample using a single-shot RARE acquisition sequence with shifted data acquisition.
18 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of MR investigation of a sample, said method comprising:
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(i) nuclear spin polarising a MR imaging agent, wherein said agent is a high T1 agent and contains in its molecular structure at least two hyperpolarisable nuclei of the same type of MR imaging nuclei within the same molecule, having similar signal amplitudes, and wherein the frequency difference between the two resonance lines from said nuclei, δ
υ
, is dependent upon either the temperature, pH, pO2, pCO2, or ionic concentration of said sample;(ii) administering the nuclear spin polarised MR imaging agent to said sample; (iii) exposing said sample to a radiation at a frequency selected to excite nuclear spin transitions in selected nuclei therein; (iv) detecting and manipulating magnetic resonance signals from said sample using a single-shot RARE acquisition sequence with shifted data acquisition, and wherein and excitation and detection steps iii) and iv) are such that said nuclei are all being excited and detected in the same sequence; and (v) optionally generating an image, dynamic flow data, diffusion data or physiological and/or metabolic data from said detected signals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19)
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18. A method as claimed in 15, wherein said 13C nuclei are surrounded by one or more non-MR active nuclei.
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20. A method of MR investigation of a sample previously administered with a nuclear spin polarised MR imaging agent formed by nuclear spin polarising a MR imaging agent, wherein said agent is a high T1 agent and contains in its molecular structure at least two hyperpolarisable nuclei of the same type of MR imaging nuclei within the same molecule having similar signal amplitudes, and wherein the frequency difference between the two resonance lines from said nuclei, δ
- υ
, is dependent upon either the temperature, pH, pO2, pCO2 or ionic concentration of said sample, said method comprising;i) exposing said sample to a radiation at a frequency selected to excite nuclear spin transitions in selected nuclei therein; ii) detecting and manipulating magnetic resonance signals from said sample using a single-shot RARE acquisition sequence with shifted data acquisition, and wherein the exposing and detecting steps are such that said nuclei are all being excited and detected in the same sequence; and iii) optionally generating an image, dynamic flow data, diffusion data or physiological and/or metabolic data from said detected signals.
- υ
Specification