Study of PH-Sensitive Magnetization Transfer Imaging in Hyperacute Brain Infarction Using a Clinical 1.5 Tesla Scanner

Taifeng Lin¹, Maobin Wei¹, Zhiwei Shen¹, Gang Xiao¹, Renhua Wu¹, Phillip Zhe Sun²

pH-sensitive magnetization transfer (MT) imaging can reflect the alteration in metabolism. Using this technology to image ischemic brain may make an early detection and prediction of ischemic penumbra. Twelve male cats underwent permanent MCAO, and ischemic evolution was observed at a clinical 1.5 T scanner through clinical T1WI, T2WI, DWI and MT-imaging. We found that in 5 of 12 animals hypointensity in occlusion side was displayed on MT-imaging, when there was no any alteration on the clinical images yet. In other 7 of 12 animals, we could observe the intensity alterations in DWI and MT-imaging at the same time. We also found that pH-sensitive MT-imaging was sensitive to detect infarction prior to current clinical sequences and might be able to predict ischemic penumbra.