Elisa Placidi1, Caroline L. Hoad1,
Luca Marciani2, Alan C. Perkins3, P. E. Blackshaw3,
Robin C. Spiller2, Penny A. Gowland1
1SPMMRC, Nottingham,
Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom; 2Nottingham Digestive Diseases
Centre Biomedical Research Unit, Nottingham, United Kingdom; 3Academic
Medical Physics, Nottingham, United Kingdom
A pilot in vivo study measuring gastrointestinal transit with MRI is presented. Purpose built plastic capsules, double labelled with a fluorine agent and a gadolinium solution were given to two volunteers scanned up to 48 hours. The Gadolinium solution gave a very bright signal which could be identified at all time points in the entire GI tract. The fluorine image gave confirmation of their position but the fluorine coil often had to be repositioned after the exact location of the capsules was established. In future it will be possible to perform studies of GI transit using just 1H labelled capsules.