Visualization & Quantification of Intestinal Transit & Motor Function by Real-Time Tracking of 19F Labeled Capsules in Humans

Tobias Hahn¹, Sebastian Kozerke¹, Werner Schwizer², Michael Fried², Peter Boesiger¹, Andreas Steingoetter^1,2

A combined 19F and 1H MRI framework enabling the co-registration of local intestinal motor function and transit assessed by 19F MRI with anatomical 1H MRI data was implemented and its potential for physiological GI MRI demonstrated. Biologically inert and impermeable 15C5 labeled capsules were developed. Capsule movement and gastric transit upon oral administration of one and two capsules were monitored in real time by a 19F projection imaging sequence using a 3T whole-body system equipped with a dual-channel 19F transmit-receive surface coil. The developed framework was found to be feasible for the non-invasive visualization and quantification of gastrointestinal motor activity.