The Proton Resonance Enhancement for CEST imaging and Shift Exchange (PRECISE) family of RF pulse shapes for Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer MRI.

Purpose: To optimize a 100 msec pulse for producing CEST MRI contrast and evaluate in mice.

Methods: A gradient ascent algorithm was employed to generate a family of 100 point, 100 msec pulses for use in CEST pulse trains ('PRECISE'). Gradient ascent optimizations were performed for exchange rates (k ) = 500 s , 1,500 s , 2,500 s , 3,500 s and 4,500 s and offsets (Δω) = 9.6, 7.8, 4.2 and 2.0 ppm. 7 PRECISE pulse shapes were tested on an 11.7 T scanner using a phantom containing three representative CEST agents with peak saturation B = 4 μT. The pulse producing the most contrast in phantoms was then evaluated for CEST MRI pH mapping of the kidneys in healthy mice after iopamidol administration.

Results: The most promising pulse in terms of contrast performance across all three phantoms was the 9.6 ppm, 2500 s optimized pulse with ∼2.7 x improvement over Gaussian and ∼1.3x's over Fermi pulses. This pulse also displayed a large improvement in contrast over the Gaussian pulse after administration of iopamidol in live mice.

Conclusion: A new 100 msec pulse was developed based on gradient ascent optimizations which produced better contrast compared to standard Gaussian and Fermi pulses in phantoms. This shape also showed a substantial improvement for CEST MRI pH mapping in live mice over the Gaussian shape and appears promising for a wide range of CEST applications.