Jens Groebner1,
Robert Borowiak1, 2, Manuela Rsler3, Reiner
Umathum3, Elmar Fischer1, John M. Pavlina1,
Michael Bock1
1Dept.
of Radiology / Medical Physics, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg,
BW, Germany; 2Deutsches Konsortium fr translationale Krebsforschung
(DKTK), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, BW, Germany; 3Dept.
of Medical Physics in Radiology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ),
Heidelberg, BW, Germany
Oxygen-17 (17O) MRI allows quantifying the metabolic turnover of oxygen in vivo. In this preliminary work a TxRx surface coil was constructed for direct 17O MRI at 3 Tesla. MR images of a phantom and a volunteer were acquired at 3T for the first time. An SNR of 45 in vitro and 50 in vivo could be achieved in clinically acceptable acquisition times of less than 15 min at in-plane resolutions between 5 and 12 mm.