David Thomas Pilkinton1,2, Santosh R Gaddam2,
Ravinder Reddy1,2
1Biochemistry &
Molecular Biophysics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United
States; 2Center for Magnetic Resonance & Optical Imaging,
Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United
States
The inhalation of hyperoxic gas mixtures is known to be an effective positive contrast agent in T2*-weighted images, with minimal associated physiological and biochemical alterations. However, the quality of oxygen as an intravascular contrast agent depends not only on it having minimal effects on the underlying physiology, but also on it having minimal non-BOLD relaxation effects. In this study, we show that inhaled oxygen in the upper airway near the brain substantially increases the static field inhomogeneity in the frontal lobes as a function of the concentration of inhaled oxygen and field strength.