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A physical phantom for amine chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) MRI

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Abstract

Objective

To develop a robust amine chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) physical phantom, validate the temporal stability, and create a supporting software for automatic image processing and quality assurance.

Materials and methods

The phantom was designed as an assembled laser-cut acrylic rack and 18 vials of phantom solutions, prepared with different pHs, glycine concentrations, and gadolinium concentrations. We evaluated glycine concentrations using ultraviolet absorbance for 70 days and measured the pH, relaxation rates, and CEST contrast for 94 days after preparation. We used Spearman’s correlation to determine if glycine degraded over time. Linear regression and Bland–Altman analysis were performed between baseline and follow-up measurements of pH and MRI properties.

Results

No degradation of glycine was observed (p > 0.05). The pH and MRI measurements stayed stable for 3 months and showed high consistency across time points (R2 = 1.00 for pH, R1, R2, and CEST contrast), which was further validated by the Bland–Altman plots. Examples of automatically generated reports are provided.

Discussion

We designed a physical phantom for amine CEST-MRI, which is easy to assemble and transfer, holds 18 different solutions, and has excellent short-term chemical and MRI stability. We believe this robust phantom will facilitate the development of novel sequences and cross-scanners validations.

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Data availability

The CAD files used for creating the physical phantom components are available on (Github website: https://github.com/Jingwen-Yao/CEST_physical_phantom). MATLAB code of the automatic quality assurance software, and the accompanying template data used in this study are available on (Github website: https://github.com/Jingwen-Yao/CEST_physical_phantom).

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Acknowledgements

We thank the UCLA Bioengineering department to coordinate the undergraduate Capstone senior design projects and provide the mechanical workspace. We would like to acknowledge Dr. Stephanie Seidlits, teaching assistants Jonathan Massachi and Michael Bogumil, for supporting the Capstone project.

Funding

This study was funded by American Cancer Society (ACS) Research Scholar Grant (RSG-15–003-01-CCE), UCLA SPORE in Brain Cancer (NIH/NCI 1P50CA211015-01A1), and NIH/NCI (1R21CA223757-01).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. UCLA Brain Tumor Imaging Laboratory (BTIL), Center for Computer Vision and Imaging Biomarkers, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Jingwen Yao, Chencai Wang, Catalina Raymond & Benjamin M. Ellingson

  2. Departments of Radiological Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, 924 Westwood Blvd., Suite 615, Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA

    Jingwen Yao, Chencai Wang, Catalina Raymond & Benjamin M. Ellingson

  3. Department of Bioengineering, Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Jingwen Yao, Blake Bergstrom, Xing Chen, Kaveri Das, Huy Dinh, Zoe S. Kim, Angela N. Le, Matthew W. J. Lim, Jane A. N. Pham, Joseph D. Prusan, Sriram S. Rao & Benjamin M. Ellingson

  4. Department of Bioengineering Innovation and Design, Whiting School of Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Kaveri Das

  5. Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    David A. Nathanson

Authors
  1. Jingwen Yao
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  2. Chencai Wang
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  3. Catalina Raymond
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  4. Blake Bergstrom
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  5. Xing Chen
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  6. Kaveri Das
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  7. Huy Dinh
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  8. Zoe S. Kim
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  9. Angela N. Le
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  10. Matthew W. J. Lim
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  15. Benjamin M. Ellingson
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Contributions

Conceptualization: JY, CRG, BME; methodology: XC, ANL, HD; data acquisition: JY, CW, XC, KD, MWJL; data analysis: JY, BB, ZSK, JANP, JDP, SSR; writing—original draft preparation: JY; Writing—review and editing: BME; funding acquisition: BME; resources: DAN; supervision: BME.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Benjamin M. Ellingson.

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Conflict of interest

Author B.M.E. is a paid consultant at companies Medicenna, MedQIA, Neosoma, Agios Pharmaceuticals, Siemens, Imaging Endpoints, Kazia/Novogen, and NW Biopharmaceuticals. He is a consultant at companies Oncoceutics, BeiGene, BBI, Tocagen, and non-profit organizations Global Coalition for Adaptive Research (GCAR) and NIH/NCI Cancer Imaging Steering Committee. Author B.M.E. also receives research grant from companies Siemens, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, VBL, and non-profit organizations National Brain Tumor Society and ACS. Author D.A.N. is a co-founder and consultant at company Katmai Pharmaceuticals and a co-founder of company Trethera Corporation. He is also a shareholder in Sofie Biosciences. Authors J.Y., C.R.G., X.C., A.N.L., H.D., C.W., K.D., M.W.J.L, B.B., Z.S.K., J.A.N.P., J.D.P., S.S.R. has no conflict of interest to disclose.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Yao, J., Wang, C., Raymond, C. et al. A physical phantom for amine chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) MRI. Magn Reson Mater Phy 34, 569–580 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10334-020-00902-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10334-020-00902-z

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