title: Gas Phase UTE MRI of Propane and Propene.
abstract: 1H MRI of gases can potentially enable functional lung imaging to probe gas ventilation and other functions. In this work,1H MR images of hyperpolarized and thermally polarized propane gas were obtained using UTE (ultrashort echo time) pulse sequence. A 2D image of thermally polarized propane gas with ~0.9×0.9 mm2spatial resolution was obtained in less than 2 seconds, demonstrating that even non-hyperpolarized hydrocarbon gases can be successfully utilized for conventional proton MRI. The experiments were also performed with hyperpolarized propane gas and demonstrated acquisition of high-resolution multi-slice FLASH 2D images in ca. 510 s and non slice-selective 2D UTE MRI images in ca. 2 s. The UTE approach adopted in this study can be potentially used for medical lung imaging. Furthermore, the possibility to combine UTE with selective suppression of1H signals from one of the two gases in a mixture is demonstrated in this MRI study. The latter can be useful for visualizing industrially important processes where several gases may be present, e.g., gas-solid catalytic reactions.
authors.affiliation: International Tomography Center, SB RAS, 3A Institutskaya St., 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia; Novosibirsk State University, 2 Pirogova St., 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia.
authors.forename: Kirill V
authors.initials: KV
authors.lastname: Kovtunov
authors.affiliation: International Tomography Center, SB RAS, 3A Institutskaya St., 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia; Novosibirsk State University, 2 Pirogova St., 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia.
authors.forename: Alexey S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Romanov
authors.affiliation: International Tomography Center, SB RAS, 3A Institutskaya St., 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia; Novosibirsk State University, 2 Pirogova St., 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia.
authors.forename: Oleg G
authors.initials: OG
authors.lastname: Salnikov
authors.affiliation: Vanderbilt University, Institute of Imaging Science (VUIIS), Department of Radiology, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), Nashville, Tennessee, 37232-2310, USA.
authors.forename: Danila A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Barskiy
authors.affiliation: Vanderbilt University, Institute of Imaging Science (VUIIS), Department of Radiology, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), Nashville, Tennessee, 37232-2310, USA.
authors.forename: Eduard Y
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Chekmenev
authors.affiliation: International Tomography Center, SB RAS, 3A Institutskaya St., 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia; Novosibirsk State University, 2 Pirogova St., 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia.
authors.forename: Igor V
authors.initials: IV
authors.lastname: Koptyug