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Abstract #0473

In Vivo Relaxation Parameters of Oxygen-17 (17O)

Stefan H. Hoffmann1, Armin M. Nagel1, Florian M. Meise1, Reiner Umathum1, Michael Bock1

1Medical Physics in Radiology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany


Cellular energy production is closely connected to the metabolization of oxygen (O2) to water. Direct 17O-MRI can assess the in vivo H217O concentration metabolized from inhaled 17O gas. However, the MR-sensitivity of the 17O nucleus (I = 5/2) is poor. Information on the relaxation parameters is therefore crucial for optimizing the imaging process. In this study we measured the in vivo 17O relaxation times in the human brain (B0 = 7T) to optimize imaging protocols for CMRO2 measurements. Non-localized detection (T1, T2) was carried out in 10 healthy volunteers and 3D T2* determination and anatomical mapping to 1H images was performed in one subject.