Rolf Lamerichs1, Muhammed Yildirim1,2,
Aart J. Nederveen3, Jaap Stoker3, Gregory M. Lanza4,
Samuel A. Wickline4, Shelton D. Caruthers4
1Philips Research, Eindhoven,
Netherlands; 2Biomedical NMR, Department of Biomedical
Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, Netherlands; 3Department
of Radiology, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands; 4Washington
University, St Louis, MO, United States
Quantitative
molecular MRI of angiogenesis using site-targeted 19F agents has
great potential. Many 19F
agents, however, possess complex spectra with many resonances over a wide ppm
range. Fluorine ultra-fast Turbo
Spectroscopic Imaging (F-uTSI) has been developed to overcome these drawbacks
while offering the advantage of distinguishing various 19F
compounds based on chemical shift differences thereby allowing multi-color
imaging. Herein, F-uTSI is shown to be
an efficient, sensitive technique for quantitatively detecting minute amounts
of 19F contrast agents in vivo while overcoming the confounding
problems associated with chemical shift.
Employing functionalized perfluorocarbon nanoparticles in Vx2
tumor-bearing rabbits, angiogenic maps were created.
Keywords