7T ¹⁹F/¹H MRI with perfluorocarbon-labeled immune cells in pigs: Pilot results with a dedicated twin-array system with pTX support.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Cardiac inflammation plays a key role in many diseases. However, its underlying mechanisms and progression remain poorly understood. Using an ultra-high field (UHF) may increase the sensitivity of MRI of inflammatory processes with ¹⁹F-labeled immune cells. The high Larmor frequency of ¹⁹F (∼95% of that for ¹H-nuclei) leads to similar technical hurdles in acquiring MR images at UHF that originate from the heterogeneity of B₁ ⁺. We aimed to develop a system of transmit/receive (Tx/Rx) arrays exploiting parallel transmit (pTX) technology for B₁ ⁺-shimming to acquire a combination of high-quality anatomical ¹H MR-images of a pig heart and ¹⁹F images of labeled immune cells at 7T.

SUBMITTER: Terekhov M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12620145 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature