Development of a new method for quantifying chemical exchange rate and visualizing pH using CEST MRI

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25670532
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Radiation science
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: MURASE Kenya 大阪大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (50157773)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): YOSHIOKA Yoshichika 大阪大学, 免疫学フロンティア研究センター, 特任教授 (00174897) ; KIMURA Atsuomi 大阪大学, 医学系研究科, 准教授 (70303972)
• Research Collaborator: TAKATA Hiroshige ; TAKEUCHI Yuki ; UEDA Junpei ; SASAHARA Hisato ; YABATA Isamu
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 化学交換飽和移動 / 核磁気共鳴撮像法 / pH / コンピュータシミュレーション / 化学交換速度

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Recently, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) phenomenon (CEST MRI) was developed, and its clinical application is expected as a new molecular imaging technique. In this research project, we proposed a new method for quantifying the chemical exchange rate and for imaging pH using CEST MRI and investigated the precision and reliability of our proposed method by computer simulation and phantom experiments. As a result, we found that our method was superior to the conventional method in terms of the precision and the robustness against statistical noise. Furthermore, we found that the bias of the estimates of the parameters such as the chemical exchange rate can be reduced by using a spin-lock pulse.

Free Research Field

医用生体工学