Hyperpolarized MR Imaging with Carbon-13 Pyruvate in the Human Body

Positron emission tomography with 18F fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) is the conventional imaging technique to provide information regarding tissue glucose uptake and has been highly clinically successful. However, it cannot assess downstream metabolism, which may be useful in the diagnosis and assessment of treatment response in a variety of diseases. Patients will also be exposed to ionizing radiation, the amount of exposure can vary depending on the dose of tracer administered, frequency of scans and duration of each scan. Carbon-13 (13C) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is particularly attractive for metabolic imaging because carbon serves as the backbone of nearly all organic molecules in the body. With this technique, the polarization increases to approximately 30%-40%, an increase of over 10,000 to 100,000-fold, thereby dramatically increasing the MRI signal . Whilst the role of 13C imaging has been demonstrated in many sites around the world, we aim to demonstrate the feasibility and application of 13C hyperpolarized imaging in healthy Singapore residents and patients with cardiovascular and/or cardiometabolic diseases.