The purpose of this study was to investigate a new application of MR fingerprinting (MRF) methods for hyperpolarized 13C MRI. We show that introducing randomization of pulse parameters into a 13C SSFP acquisition train facilitates efficient extraction of individual hyperpolarized 13C metabolite levels based on their transient signal responses (i.e. "fingerprints"), in simulations as well as phantom and in vivo experiments. Application of MRF methods in this multi-spectral SSFP framework enables exploitation of the long T2 relaxation times of 13C nuclei for increased sensitivity and spatial resolution in hyperpolarized MRI. Initial results show that MRF approaches have great potential for application to hyperpolarized 13C metabolic imaging.
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