James A. Bankson1, Vlad C. Sandulache2, Matthew E. Merritt3, Andrew M. Elliott1, Yunyun Chen4, Waldemar Priebe5, Dawid Schellingerhout6, Stephen Y. Lai4, Charles A. Co
1Department of Imaging Physics, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, United States; 2Bobby R. Alford Department of Otolaryngology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States; 3Advanced Imaging Research Center, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States; 4Derpatment of Head & Neck Surgery, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, United States; 5Department of Experimental Therapeutics, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, United States; 6Department of Diagnostic Radiology, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, United States; 7Department of Neuro-Oncology, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, United States
Metabolic imaging using hyperpolarized [1-13C]pyruvate can provide new insights into cancer and therapies that target or affect metabolism. Strategies for acquisition, reconstruction, and analysis must be designed to extract reproducible quantitative biomarkers within a limited window of time. We have dynamically monitored the chemical fate of hyperpolarized pyruvate in murine models of cancer to investigate temporal dynamics and inform on the design of robust acquisition and analysis strategies. Preliminary results indicate, as expected, that multiple processes can modulate the behavior of hyperpolarized tracers in vivo, and that the effects of these processes can be modeled to clarify data interpretation.