Nevin McVicar1, Alex X. Li2,
Robert Hudson3, Martyn Klassen2, Robert Bartha1,2
1Medical Biophysics, University of
Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada; 2Centre of Functional and
Metabolic Imaging, Robarts Research Institute, London, ON, Canada; 3Chemistry,
University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
An
Echo-planar imaging (EPI) pulse sequence was developed to detect CEST
paramagnetic contrast. The EPI PARACEST sequence included a 2.5s CEST
saturation pulse, followed by a ~ 26ms echo-train. Signal to noise ratio (SNR), CEST effect,
and CEST efficiency for EPI CEST sequence were compared to fast spin-echo
(FSE) CEST and fast low angle shot (FLASH) CEST in a phantom containing 10 mM
Eu3+-DOTAM-Gly-Phe. EPI CEST, provided high temporal resolution and SNR while
fully maintaining CEST effect due to the short readout times. Decreasing
readout bandwidth had no significant impact on acquisition time or CEST
contrast but increased image SNR.
Keywords