title: Two repetition time saturation transfer (TwiST) with spill-over correction to measure creatine kinase reaction rates in human hearts.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Phosphorus saturation transfer (ST) magnetic resonance spectroscopy can measure the rate of ATP generated from phosphocreatine (PCr) via creatine kinase (CK) in the human heart. Recently, the triple-repetition time ST (TRiST) method was introduced to measure the CK pseudo-first-order rate constant kf in three acquisitions. In TRiST, the longitudinal relaxation time of PCr while γ-ATP is saturated, T1`, is measured for each subject, but suffers from low SNR because the PCr signal is reduced due to exchange with saturated γ-ATP, and the short repetition time of one of the acquisitions. Here, a two-repetition time ST (TwiST) method is presented. In TwiST, the acquisition with γ-ATP saturation and short repetition time is dropped. Instead of measuring T1`, an intrinsic relaxation time T1 for PCr, T1 (intrinsic), is assumed. The objective was to validate TwiST measurements of CK kinetics in healthy subjects and patients with heart failure (HF).
  
  
  METHODS
  Bloch equation simulations that included the effect of spillover irradiation on PCr were used to derive formulae for T1 (intrinsic) and kf measured by both TRiST and TwiST methods. Spillover was quantified from an unsaturated PCr measurement used in the current protocol for determining PCr and ATP concentrations. Cardiac TRiST and TwiST data were acquired at 3 T from 12 healthy and 17 HF patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Simulations showed that both kf measured by TwiST and T1 (intrinsic) require spill-over corrections. In human heart at 3 T, the spill-over corrected T1 (intrinsic) = 8.4 ± 1.4 s (mean ± SD) independent of study group. TwiST and TRiST kf measurements were the same, but TwiST was 9 min faster. Spill-over corrected TwiST kf was 0.33 ± 0.08 s(-1) vs. 0.20 ± 0.06 s(-1) in healthy vs HF hearts, respectively (p < 0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  TwiST was validated against TRiST in the human heart at 3 T, generating the same results 9 min faster. TwiST detected significant reductions in CK kf in HF compared to healthy subjects, consistent with prior 1.5 T studies using different methodology.
authors.affiliation: Division of MR Research, Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. michael.schar@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schär
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Imaging, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA. refaat.e.gabr@uth.tmc.edu.
authors.forename: Refaat E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Gabr
authors.affiliation: Division of MR Research, Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. abdshark@gmail.com.|Systems and Biomedical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt. abdshark@gmail.com.
authors.forename: AbdEl-Monem M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: El-Sharkawy
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Division, Department of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. asteinb3@jhmi.edu.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Steinberg
authors.affiliation: Division of MR Research, Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. bottoml@mri.jhu.edu.
authors.forename: Paul A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Bottomley
authors.affiliation: Division of MR Research, Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. rweiss@jhmi.edu.|Cardiology Division, Department of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. rweiss@jhmi.edu.
authors.forename: Robert G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Weiss
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000378:metabolism*; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003402:Creatine Kinase / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000201:enzymology*; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D016014:Linear Models; D019028:Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008954:Models, Biological; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D009206:Myocardium / Q000201:enzymology*; D010725:Phosphocreatine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010725:Phosphocreatine; C025403:phosphocreatinine; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D003402:Creatine Kinase