High Resolution Pyruvate-Lactate Metabolic Measurement by Hyperpolarized 13C MR Fingerprinting Acquisition with Low Rank Reconstruction

Motivation: T1 of hyperpolarized Carbon-13 (HP-13C) molecules results in limited data acquisition period. In conventional imaging approaches, this results in sacrifices in imaging resolution, which leads to limited sensitive and interpretability of results. Goal(s): Combine efficient MR fingerprinting based acquisition with spatiotemporal low-rank constraint for accelerated high resolution metabolic imaging. Approach: bSSFP-type MRF acquisition was reconstructed iteratively with low-rank temporal constraint derived from HP-13C signal model. Method was assessed in digital phantom, retrospective, and prospective preclinical rat kidney. Results: Strong undersampling capacity was observed in simulation and retrospective studies. Preclinical experiment with 20-fold smaller voxel volume showed reasonable results. Impact: Improved resolution is a critical prerequisite for clinical utility of HP-13C measurements. The methods shown here demonstrate potential for robust metabolic measurements at order of magnitude higher resolution, and is adaptable for wide range of organ systems and metabolic processes.