David M. Wilson1, James L. Rubenstein2, Kristen Scott1, John Kurhanewicz1, Kayvan R. Keshari1
1Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, CA, United States; 2Medicine, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)
Determining the extent of intracranial tumors is critical for surgical resection and focused radiotherapy, but is often difficult using traditional 1H imaging techniques. Hyperpolarized (HP) 13C metabolic imaging methods have great potential, but brain studies in clinical models have been limited by low spatial resolution, with significant volume averaging limiting interpretation. Here we report application of fast 3D echo-planar imaging (EPI) 13C imaging methods to the murine brain at 14T, in a primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) xenograft model. Preliminary studies using HP [1-13C] pyruvate demonstrated striking elevation in the metabolite [1-13C] lactate in tumor.