This work shows the potential of sodium imaging of the thyroid gland in vivo at 4mm isotropic resolution integrated to 1H imaging. An optimized setup combined with tuned sequences and B1 corrections enables quantitative sodium mapping of the thyroid gland and its surrounding tissue. The thyroid gland has the highest concentration of sodium in this part of the neck, estimated to be 64.5 mmol/L in vivo. Sodium imaging might open up the detection of (lymph node) metastases of thyroid cancer, as they are expected to exceed the healthy concentration of sodium detected in the head and neck region.
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