Bone mineral imaged in vivo by 31P solid state MRI of human wrists

Yaotang Wu, Timothy G. Reese, Haihui Cao, Mirko I. Hrovat, Steven P. Toddes, Rostislav A. Lemdiasov, Jerome L. Ackerman
2011 Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging  
Purpose-To implement solid state 31 P MRI ( 31 P SMRI) in a clinical scanner to visualize bone mineral. Materials and Methods-Wrists of seven healthy volunteers were scanned. A quadrature wrist 31 P transmit/receive coil provided strong B 1 and good signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). A 1 H-31 P frequency converter was constructed to enable detection of the 31 P signal via the 1 H channel. Data points lost in the receiver dead time were recovered by a second acquisition with longer dwell time and
more » ... gradient strength. Results-Three dimensional 31 P images, showing only bone mineral of the wrist, were obtained with a clinical 3T scanner. In the best overall case an image with isotropic resolution of ~5.1 mm and SNR of 30 was obtained in 37 min. 31 P NMR properties (resonance line width 2 kHz and T 1 17-19 s) of in vivo human bone mineral were measured. Conclusion-In vivo 31 P SMRI visualization of human wrist bone mineral with a clinical MR scanner is feasible with suitable modifications to circumvent the scanners' limitations in reception of short-T 2 signals. Frequency conversion methodology is useful for implementing 31 P SMRI measurements on scanners which do not have multinuclear capability or for which the multinuclear receiver dead time is excessive.
doi:10.1002/jmri.22637 pmid:21761459 pmcid:PMC3197865 fatcat:ihpjts2zyja5vju5hd6wnottg4