Fast 31P Metabolic Imaging of Human Muscle

Isabell Kristin Steinseifer¹, Jannie Petra Wijnen¹, Bob Christian Hamans¹, Arend Heerschap¹, Tom Wilhelmus Scheenen^1,2

We present a ³¹P MRI technique to obtain images of PCr and β-ATP simultaneously by excitation of these resonances with a dual frequency selective Shinnar-LeRoux pulse at 7T. With proper choice of bandwidth of the 3D gradient echo imaging technique the chemical shift difference between the two resonances was used to completely separate images of the resonances within one large field of view. The concept of fast ³¹P metabolic imaging can also be applied to the brain, and even further expanded to other MR-detectable nuclei.