Deuterium metabolic imaging for 3D mapping of glucose metabolism in humans with central nervous system lesions at 3T

Abstract

Purpose: To explore the potential of 3T deuterium metabolic imaging (DMI) using a birdcage ² H radiofrequency (RF) coil in both healthy volunteers and patients with central nervous system (CNS) lesions.

Methods: A modified gradient filter, home-built ² H volume RF coil, and spherical k-space sampling were employed in a three-dimensional chemical shift imaging acquisition to obtain high-quality whole-brain metabolic images of ² H-labeled water and glucose metabolic products. These images were acquired in a healthy volunteer and three subjects with CNS lesions of varying pathologies. Hardware and pulse sequence experiments were also conducted to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of DMI at 3T.

Results: The ability to quantify local glucose metabolism in correspondence to anatomical landmarks across patients with varying CNS lesions is demonstrated, and increased lactate is observed in one patient with the most active disease.

Conclusion: DMI offers the potential to examine metabolic activity in human subjects with CNS lesions with DMI at 3T, promising for the potential of the future clinical translation of this metabolic imaging technique.

Keywords: 3 Tesla (3T); brain energy metabolism; central nervous system lesions; deuterium metabolic imaging (DMI); glucose metabolism; human brain.