Lindsey Alexandra Crowe1, Frederic Ris2, Sonia Nielles-Vallespin3, Peter Speier3, Solange Masson2, Mathieu Armanet2, Domenico Bosco2, Thierry Berney2, Jean-Paul Valle1,4
1Faculty of Medicine , University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; 2Cell Isolation and Transplant Center, Department of Surgery, Geneva University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland; 3Siemens AG Medical Solutions, Erlangen, Germany; 4Work supported in part by the Center for Biomedical Imaging (CIBM), Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland
Monitoring the fate of transplanted pancreatic Islets of Langerhans into the liver is vital for improvement of treatment for type 1 diabetes. MR provides quantitative, non-invasive imaging for serial examination of iron oxide labelled cells. In-vivo 3D difference ultra-short echo time (dUTE) imaging gives positive, quantifiable contrast from iron labelled islets in rat. Between the ultra-short and long echo times the islet cell signal changes but the small vessels and liver constant. Coverage of the whole liver in the absence of cardiac and respiratory motion artifact, and isotropic resolution provides improvement over 2D GRE.