Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Controlling Water Exchange Kinetics And Improving Paracest Imaging, Jacqueline R. Slack

Dissertations and Theses

Generating MR image contrast from exogenous contrast media through chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) offers several exciting new possibilities, such as multicolored imaging, the interleaving of pre- and post-contrast images, and the potential to perform ratiometric metabolic imaging. The major limitation of the deployment of CEST imaging is the comparatively high detection limits of exogenous agents and particularly at the low B_¹ power levels required to meet SAR requirements. The large chemical shifts afforded by paramagnetic (paraCEST) agents permit more rapid exchange kinetics and therefore potentially more effective contrast agents. Despite comparatively large chemical shifts, many Ln³⁺ DOTA-tetraamide …