Functional Proton Electron Double Resonance Imaging: Concept and Experiment

Valery V. Khramtsov¹, Keerthi Shet¹, Eric Kesselring¹, Sergey Petryakov¹, Ziqi Sun¹, Jay L. Zweier¹, Alexandre Samouilov¹

A new concept of variable field proton electron double resonance imaging (VF PEDRI) is proposed. This allows for functional mapping using specifically designed paramagnetic probes (e.g. oxygen or pH mapping) within MRI high quality spatial resolution and short acquisition time. pH map of the phantom sample was extracted from only two PEDRI acquisitions performed at pre-selected EPR excitation fields. The data show at least 10 fold decrease in acquisition time for VF PEDRI compared with CW EPR imaging for the same phantom and similar functional resolutions. This is particularly important for in vivo applications where the experimental window and stability of the probes are limited.