Selective 19F MR imaging of 5-fluorouracil and alpha-fluoro-beta-alanine.
A 19F MR chemical shift imaging (CSI) technique is presented which enables selective imaging of the antineoplastic drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and its major catabolite alpha-fluoro-beta-alanine (FBAL). The CSI sequence employs a chemical shift selective (CHESS) saturation pulse to suppress either the 5-FU or the FBAL resonance before the other component of the two-line 19F MR spectrum is measured. Because the transmitter frequency can always be set to the Larmor frequency of the 19F resonance to be imaged, this approach yields 5-FU and FBAL MR images free of chemical shift artifacts in read-out and slice-selection direction. In phantom experiments, selective 5-FU and FBAL images with a spatial resolution of 15 x 15 x 20 mm3 (4.5 ml) were obtained in 30 min from a model solution, whose drug and catabolite concentrations were similar to those estimated in the liver of tumor patients undergoing IV chemotherapy with 5-FU. The drug-specific MR imaging technique developed is, therefore, well-suited for the direct and noninvasive monitoring of the up-take and trapping of 5-FU in liver tumors in vivo.
Brix
G
G
Research Program Radiological Diagnostics and Therapy, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg.
Bellemann
M E
ME
Zabel
H J
HJ
Bachert
P
P
Lorenz
W J
WJ
D016477:Artifacts; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods*; D008961:Models, Structural; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D015091:beta-Alanine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*
D015091:beta-Alanine; C032348:alpha-fluoro-beta-alanine; D005472:Fluorouracil