Abstract #3942

Spectroscopically Selective Imaging of Hyperpolarized Pyruvate and Its Metabolites Using a Single-Echo Variable Phase Advance Method in Balanced SSFP

Gopal Varma¹, Xiaoen Wang¹, David C. Alsop¹, Rupal Bhatt², Aaron K. Grant¹

¹Radiology, Division of MR Research, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States; ²Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, United States

Balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) is a fast, signal efficient sequence for imaging of hyperpolarized 13C. By exploiting the dependence of the bSSFP signal on the chemical shift, or, equivalently, the phase advance between successive RF excitation pulses, it is possible to extract chemical shift selective images of multiple metabolites. The method is illustrated in phantoms and for imaging of pyruvate and its metabolites in a mouse model of renal cell carcinoma.