Slice Profile Induced Errors in Metabolic Quantification of Hyperpolarized Pyruvate.

Hyperpolarized pyruvate is being explored as a quantitative imaging biomarker of metabolism. Non-ideal slice excitation of hyperpolarized magnetization can result in temporally evolving slice profiles. This work evaluates the impact of slice profile on quantitative analysis of hyperpolarized pyruvate using a perfused Bloch-McConnell simulator. Results indicate that the slice profile can cause significant bias in the measured apparent metabolic exchange constant. Primary sources of bias are excess signal from the slice penumbra and the offset between metabolite slices. Therefore, it will be critical to properly account for the slice profile when attempting to quantify hyperpolarized signal using slice selective excitations.