Abstract #0805

3D Radial UTE Imaging for Quantification of Transplanted Iron Oxide Labelled Islet Cells.

Lindsey Alexandra Crowe¹, Frederic Ris², Sonia Nielles-Vallespin³, Peter Speier³, Solange Masson², Mathieu Armanet², Domenico Bosco², Thierry Berney², Jean-Paul Valle^1,4

¹Faculty of Medicine , University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; ²Cell Isolation and Transplant Center, Department of Surgery, Geneva University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland; ³Siemens AG Medical Solutions, Erlangen, Germany; ⁴Work supported in part by the Center for Biomedical Imaging (CIBM), Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland

Monitoring the fate of transplanted pancreatic Islets of Langerhans into the liver is vital for improvement of treatment for type 1 diabetes. MR provides quantitative, non-invasive imaging for serial examination of iron oxide labelled cells. In-vivo 3D difference ultra-short echo time (dUTE) imaging gives positive, quantifiable contrast from iron labelled islets in rat. Between the ultra-short and long echo times the islet cell signal changes but the small vessels and liver constant. Coverage of the whole liver in the absence of cardiac and respiratory motion artifact, and isotropic resolution provides improvement over 2D GRE.