Abstract #0048

High-resolution phosphocreatine mapping of human skeletal muscle by artificial neural network-based chemical exchange saturation transfer MRI at 3T

Lin Chen^1,2, Michael Schär^2,3, Kannie W.Y. Chan^1,2,4, Jianpan Huang⁴, Zhiliang Wei^1,2, Hanzhang Lu^1,2, Qin Qin^1,2, Robert G. Weiss^2,3, Peter C.M. van Zijl^1,2, and Jiadi Xu^1,2

¹F.M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Research Institute, Baltimore, MD, United States, ²Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States, ³Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States, ⁴Department of Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

The creatine kinase reaction provides energy for cells by reversibly regenerating adenosine triphosphate from a phosphocreatine pool. Functional impairment of this system is observed in many neurodegenerative and muscle diseases. In this study, we developed a high-resolution phosphocreatine (PCr) mapping approach that can be used on standard magnetic resonance clinical scanners by specifically detecting PCr via the water proton signal using a chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) method. An artificial neural network was employed to achieve absolute quantification of PCr concentration. Such a mapping method offers a non-invasive, rapid imaging tool to quantify abnormalities in PCr content and distribution in musculoskeletal diseases.

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