In order to combat the increasing worldwide organ shortage, increased understanding of the role of deranged metabolism in the donor organ is vital. This is especially true in the case of the heart, where the ability to assess cardiac metabolism during storage pending transplantation, has the potential to utilize marginal organs and elevate the graft viability. Here we present the development of a MR compatible perfusion system used in combination with hyperpolarized [1-13C]pyruvate and conventional MRI. This enables detailed investigations into ex-vivo cardiac metabolism and function in a large animal model, resembling the case in humans.
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