Parallel detection of multi-contrast MRI and Deuterium Metabolic Imaging (DMI) for time-efficient characterization of neurological diseases

Deuterium Metabolic Imaging (DMI) is a novel method that can complement traditional anatomical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain. DMI relies on the MR detection of metabolites that become labeled with deuterium ((2)H) after administration of a deuterated substrate and can provide images with highly specific metabolic information. However, clinical adoption of DMI is complicated by its relatively long scan time. Here, we demonstrate a strategy to interleave DMI data acquisition with MRI that results in a comprehensive neuro-imaging protocol without adding scan time. The interleaved MRI-DMI routine includes four essential clinical MRI scan types, namely T(1)-weighted MP-RAGE, FLAIR, T(2)-weighted Imaging (T(2)W) and susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI), interwoven with DMI data acquisition. Phantom and in vivo human brain data show that MR image quality, DMI sensitivity, as well as information content are preserved in the MRI-DMI acquisition method. The interleaved MRI-DMI technology provides full flexibility to upgrade traditional MRI protocols with DMI, adding unique metabolic information to existing types of anatomical image contrast, without extra scan time.