Würzburg 2018 – scientific programme
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ST: Fachverband Strahlen- und Medizinphysik
ST 5: Biomedical Imaging II
ST 5.6: Talk
Wednesday, March 21, 2018, 18:00–18:15, Phys-HS P
Exploring Gamma-detected MRI: Frist Setup Performance — •Robin Engel1, Magdalena Kowalska1, Jean-Noël Hyacithe2, Renaud Julivet2, Walter Neu3, Stavroula Pallada1, Luis Frail1, and Thierry Stora1 — 1CERN, Geneva, Switzerland — 2Université de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland — 3HS Emden/Leer, Emden, Germany
A 2016 publication (Nature 537.7622 (2016): 652-655.) presented the proof of principle on a new imaging method. It uses many concepts of traditional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, but replaces the detection of RF signals with that of the anisotropic gamma-emission of a hyperpolarized radioactive tracer, in this case 131mXe.
Since gamma-radiation is in comparison very easy to detect, this method is sensitive to sample concentrations that are many orders of magnitudes lower than those needed for conventional MRI. Therefore, it has the perspective of combining the advantages of nuclear tracers, as they are used in SPECT for their selective chemical properties, with the much higher spatial resolution of MRI.
Here, we present a new setup for this imaging approach, implementing an existing low-field MRI-scanner and Si-PMT based gamma detectors in combination with elements from a spin-exchange optical pumping setup developed for hyperpolarized MRI of stable Xenon. We have further created direct numerical simulations of the spin precession and nuclear emission behavior during the measurement sequence by a specially developed simulation software and hope to compare them to first results planned for February 2018.