Multinuclear fingerprinting (MNF): high-resolution simultaneous proton/sodium MR fingerprinting

Motivation: Develop a method for high-resolution multinuclear fingerprinting (MNF). Goal(s): Generate high-resolution multi-parametric maps of proton and sodium nuclei. Approach: The method consists of two steps: 1- Simultaneous acquisition of 1H/23Na MR fingerprinting (MRF) data resulting in high-resolution 1H maps and low-resolution 23Na maps 2- Application of a super-resolution algorithm to match the in-plane resolution of 23Na maps to the in-plane high-resolution of the 1H maps. Results: Multinuclear fingerprinting (MNF) can generate high-resolution 1H density, T1, and T2 maps and 23Na density, T1, T2long, and T2short maps in brain from simultaneous 1H/23Na MRF data acquired at 7 T in 21 min. Impact: This method provides a novel approach towards the investigation of sodium maps as biomarkers for neurological diseases.