. 2024 Apr;26(2):222-232.

doi: 10.1007/s11307-023-01888-5. Epub 2023 Dec 26.

New Horizons in Hyperpolarized ¹³C MRI

Myriam M Chaumeil^{1

2}, James A Bankson³, Kevin M Brindle^{4

5}, Shdema Epstein⁶, Ferdia A Gallagher^{7

8}, Martin Grashei⁹, Caroline Guglielmetti^{10

11}, Joshua D Kaggie⁷, Kayvan R Keshari^{12

13

14}, Stephan Knecht⁶, Christoffer Laustsen¹⁵, Andreas B Schmidt^{16

17

18}, Daniel Vigneron¹¹, Yi-Fen Yen¹⁹, Franz Schilling^{9

16}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA. myriam.chaumeil@ucsf.edu.
² Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA. myriam.chaumeil@ucsf.edu.
³ Department of Imaging Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
⁴ Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
⁵ Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
⁶ NVision Imaging Technologies GmbH, 89081, Ulm, Germany.
⁷ Department of Radiology, Addenbrooke's Hospital, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
⁸ Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre, Cambridge, UK.
⁹ Department of Nuclear Medicine, TUM School of Medicine, Klinikum Rechts Der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
¹⁰ Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
¹¹ Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
¹² Department of Radiology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, NY, USA.
¹³ Molecular Pharmacology Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, NY, USA.
¹⁴ Weill Cornell Graduate School, New York City, NY, USA.
¹⁵ The MR Research Centre, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Palle Juul-Jensens Boulevard 99, Aarhus, Denmark.
¹⁶ Partner Site Freiburg and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany.
¹⁷ Division of Medical Physics, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Medical Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Killianstr. 5a, 79106, Freiburg, Germany.
¹⁸ Department of Chemistry, Integrative Biosciences (Ibio), Karmanos Cancer Institute (KCI), Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, 48202, USA.
¹⁹ Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.

PMID: 38147265
PMCID: PMC10972948
DOI: 10.1007/s11307-023-01888-5

New Horizons in Hyperpolarized ¹³C MRI

Myriam M Chaumeil et al. Mol Imaging Biol. 2024 Apr.

. 2024 Apr;26(2):222-232.

doi: 10.1007/s11307-023-01888-5. Epub 2023 Dec 26.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA. myriam.chaumeil@ucsf.edu.
² Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA. myriam.chaumeil@ucsf.edu.
³ Department of Imaging Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
⁴ Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
⁵ Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
⁶ NVision Imaging Technologies GmbH, 89081, Ulm, Germany.
⁷ Department of Radiology, Addenbrooke's Hospital, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
⁸ Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre, Cambridge, UK.
⁹ Department of Nuclear Medicine, TUM School of Medicine, Klinikum Rechts Der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
¹⁰ Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
¹¹ Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
¹² Department of Radiology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, NY, USA.
¹³ Molecular Pharmacology Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, NY, USA.
¹⁴ Weill Cornell Graduate School, New York City, NY, USA.
¹⁵ The MR Research Centre, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Palle Juul-Jensens Boulevard 99, Aarhus, Denmark.
¹⁶ Partner Site Freiburg and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany.
¹⁷ Division of Medical Physics, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Medical Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Killianstr. 5a, 79106, Freiburg, Germany.
¹⁸ Department of Chemistry, Integrative Biosciences (Ibio), Karmanos Cancer Institute (KCI), Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, 48202, USA.
¹⁹ Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.

PMID: 38147265
PMCID: PMC10972948
DOI: 10.1007/s11307-023-01888-5

Abstract

Hyperpolarization techniques significantly enhance the sensitivity of magnetic resonance (MR) and thus present fascinating new directions for research and applications with in vivo MR imaging and spectroscopy (MRI/S). Hyperpolarized ¹³C MRI/S, in particular, enables real-time non-invasive assessment of metabolic processes and holds great promise for a diverse range of clinical applications spanning fields like oncology, neurology, and cardiology, with a potential for improving early diagnosis of disease, patient stratification, and therapy response assessment. Despite its potential, technical challenges remain for achieving clinical translation. This paper provides an overview of the discussions that took place at the international workshop "New Horizons in Hyperpolarized ¹³C MRI," in March 2023 at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Munich, Germany. The workshop covered new developments, as well as future directions, in topics including polarization techniques (particularly focusing on parahydrogen-based methods), novel probes, considerations related to data acquisition and analysis, and emerging clinical applications in oncology and other fields.

Keywords: Consensus; Hyperpolarized 13C; MR spectroscopy; MRI; Metabolic imaging; Metabolism.

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Conflict of interest statement

M. M. C., J. A. B., K. M. B., K. R. K., D. V., and F. S. serve on the Scientific Advisory Board of NVision Imaging Technologies. M. M. C. is a consultant for Neurona Therapeutics. S. E. and S. K. are employees of NVision Imaging Technologies. K. M. B. holds patents with GE Healthcare on some aspects of DNP technology and has a consultancy agreement with NVision Imaging Technologies GmbH. F. A. G. has consulted on behalf of the University of Cambridge for AstraZeneca. K. R. K. is co-founder of Atish Technologies, serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of Imaginostics and holds patents related to imaging and leveraging cellular metabolism. M. G., C. G., J. D. K., C. L., A. B. S. and Y. F. have no COI to disclose.

Figures

**Fig. 1**
Techniques comparison: d-DNP, PHIP-SAH, SABRE. Comparison between the most established ¹³C polarization methods. d-DNP relies on transfer of polarization from free electrons under conditions of very low temperature and high magnetic field. PHIP-SAH and SABRE utilize parahydrogen as the source of polarization, transferred to the metabolite in a fast chemical reaction

**Fig. 2**
The future of hyperpolarized ¹³C: for widespread use hyperpolarized MRI needs to be easy to use, reliable, and effective. Ease of use and reliability are dependent on technological advances that are already underway and expected to become fully realized in the near future. Evidence of effectiveness requires more and larger clinical studies

See this image and copyright information in PMC

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New Horizons in Hyperpolarized ¹³C MRI

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New Horizons in Hyperpolarized ¹³C MRI

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