Optimization of Pulsed-GagCEST at 3.0T

Gopal Varma¹, David C. Alsop¹, Robert E. Lenkinski¹, Elena Vinogradov¹

Chemical exchange saturation transfer from glycosaminoglycans (gagCEST) has shown potential in producing an endogenous contrast from cartilage, with applications involving study of cartilage degeneration. In moving to clinical 3.0T MR systems, a pulsed-CEST implementation has been shown to address SAR/hardware limits. Optimization is carried out by looking at different pulse shapes for implementation of the pulsed-CEST scheme. In particular, a gagCEST effect to differentiate normal bovine nasal cartilage from that degraded in trypsin is investigated and compared to results from a high-field scanner. The gauss shape is shown to produce the greatest gagCEST contrast, comparable to that at 4.7T.