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Abstract #4942

Detection of Human Mononuclear Cells Labelled with Micron-Sized Iron Oxide Particles Using the Sub-Pixel Enhancement of Nonuniform Tissue (SPENT) Sequence

Bernard Siow1, David W. Carmichael2,3, Johannes Riegler4, Daniel Alexander1, Mark Lythgoe4, Roger Ordidge3

1Centre for Medical Image Computing, University College London, London, United Kingdom; 2Institute of Neurology, University College London, United Kingdom; 3Department of Medical Physics and Bioengineering, University College London, United Kingdom; 4Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging, University College London, United Kingdom


The Sub-pixel Enhancement of Nonuniform Tissue (SPENT) sequence applies a 2pi phase dispersion across each voxel: the net phase of spins in magnetically homogeneous voxels would be equal to zero and thus no signal would be generated. If there are sub-pixel inhomogeneities, then the net phase of spins in a voxel is not zero and thus signal is seen. In this study, human mononuclear cells labelled with micron-sized iron oxide particles, which creates sub-voxel perturbations in the field, are scanned with a spin-echo SPENT sequence producing positive contrast images. SPENT provides directional information, as well as the potential for quantification.