Feliks Kogan1,2,
Hari Hariharan1, Ravinder Reddy1
1CMROI, Department
of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; 2Department
of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Proton exchange imaging is important as it allows for visualization and quantification of the distribution of specific metabolites. In this study we developed a new method to measure proton exchange which combines CEST and T1ρ (CESTrho) magnetization preparation methods. We demonstrated that this new CESTrho sequence is more sensitive to proton exchange in the slow to intermediate exchange regimes, has a linear dependence on proton concentration and that the magnetization scheme can be customized to make it insensitive to changes in exchange rate. The increased sensitivity to chemical exchange and insensitivity to confounding factor that influence proton exchange rates make this sequence ideal for measurement of metabolites with exchangeable protons.