Phillip Zhe Sun1,
Yu Wang1, Jie Lu2, Xunming Ji2, Eng H. Lo3
1Radiology,
Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, United States; 2Radiology,
Xuanwu Hospital, Beijing, China; 3Radiology and Neurology,
Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, United States
Normobaric oxygen (NBO) treatment is a promising treatment strategy that may mitigate ischemic tissue damage. However, the mechanisms of NBO therapy are poorly understood, elucidation of which may assist development of more effective combinational treatment. Given that pH is a surrogate tissue metabolic marker, our study applied pH imaging to evaluate the emerging NBO treatment. Our pilot study found that whereas penumbral tissue showed pH recovery upon initiation of NBO therapy, its pH degraded significantly after the termination of NBO. Our pilot data suggest that NBO may transiently relieve ischemic tissue injury, and reperfusion is needed for long-term outcome improvement.