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Abstract #1717

The Saline Bolus as an MR Contrast Agent

Kenneth K. Kwong1, Y Iris Chen1, Suk-Tak Chan1,2, David A. Chesler1

1MGH/MIT/HMS Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, United States; 2Department of Health Technology and Informatics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong


We obtained ΔR2* maps of a saline bolus dilution of the blood of the brain. Since the MR sensitivity to the dilution of deoxyhemoglobin was small, we also investigated the ΔR2* signal of a saline bolus diluting monocrystalline iron oxide nanoparticle (MION) preloaded into the vascular system. Our preliminary data showed that while the dilution of MION by saline generated ΔR2* maps similar to reference rCBV maps made by steady state MION imaging, the saline dilution of blood needed to take into account the presence of both the rCBV and OEF components of the BOLD signal.