A Tunable Phantom System for Phosphorus MRS/MRI Technology Development

Motivation: A physiologic phosphorus phantom system is needed to validate/test phosphorus MR technology. Goal(s): The goal of this study was to adapt a phosphorus buffer solution to serve as a tunable phantom system. Approach: Sodium hydroxide was added to phosphoric acid in different amounts to generate singlets at different resonant frequencies. Results: Phosphoric acid singlets could span a 5 ppm range. Singlets could be positioned at spectral position. However, singlets had different areas with different [NaOH], probably due to different T1 times. Impact: The cellular metabolic energetic metabolites ATP and PCr are known to differ in disease and health. Measuring these compounds in humans has proven difficult. Better phosphorus MRS/MRI technology is needed, as well as the tools to test/validate this technology.