Kevin Kai-Chi Leung1,2, Albert P. Chen3, Angus Z. Lau1,2, Wilfred W. Lam2, Charles H. Cunningham1,2
1Dept. of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; 2Imaging Research, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; 3GE Healthcare, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
In tumor metabolic studies that use hyperpolarized carbon-13 compounds and MR spectroscopy, there are metabolic products generated elsewhere in the body that enter the tissue of interest via the blood stream and complicate the analysis of local metabolism. To eliminate the signals of the washed-in [1-13C]pyruvate metabolic products in the kidneys, we employed a spectral-spatial saturation radiofrequency pulse that saturates alanine and lactate but leaves pyruvate undisturbed at the heart region. Using the pulse, we observed lower lactate signals and pyruvate-lactate conversion rates in the kidneys.