Positive contrast of SPIO-labeled cells by off-resonant reconstruction of 3D radial half-echo bSSFP

Diwoky C, Liebmann D, Neumayer B, Reinisch A, Knoll F, Strunk D, Stollberger R (2015)


Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2015

Journal

Book Volume: 28

Pages Range: 79-88

Journal Issue: 1

DOI: 10.1002/nbm.3229

Abstract

This article describes a new acquisition and reconstruction concept for positive contrast imaging of cells labeled with superparamagnetic iron oxides (SPIOs). Overcoming the limitations of a negative contrast representation as gained with gradient echo and fully balanced steady state (bSSFP), the proposed method delivers a spatially localized contrast with high cellular sensitivity not accomplished by other positive contrast methods. Employing a 3D radial bSSFP pulse sequence with half-echo sampling, positive cellular contrast is gained by adding artificial global frequency offsets to each half-echo before image reconstruction. The new contrast regime is highlighted with numerical intravoxel simulations including the point-spread function for 3D half-echo acquisitions. Furthermore, the new method is validated on the basis of in vitro cell phantom measurements on a clinical MRI platform, where the measured contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of the new approach exceeds even the negative contrast of bSSFP. Finally, an in vivo proof of principle study based on a mouse model with a clear depiction of labeled cells within a subcutaneous cell islet containing a cell density as low as 7 cells/mm3 is presented. The resultant isotropic images show robustness to motion and a high CNR, in addition to an enhanced specificity due to the positive contrast of SPIO-labeled cells.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

How to cite

APA:

Diwoky, C., Liebmann, D., Neumayer, B., Reinisch, A., Knoll, F., Strunk, D., & Stollberger, R. (2015). Positive contrast of SPIO-labeled cells by off-resonant reconstruction of 3D radial half-echo bSSFP. NMR in Biomedicine, 28(1), 79-88. https://doi.org/10.1002/nbm.3229

MLA:

Diwoky, Clemens, et al. "Positive contrast of SPIO-labeled cells by off-resonant reconstruction of 3D radial half-echo bSSFP." NMR in Biomedicine 28.1 (2015): 79-88.

BibTeX: Download