Method and material to acquire magnetic resonance imaging data

An enteric contrast medium formulation which is formulated for oral delivery to a subject contemporaneous with a MR imaging procedure performed on the abdomen or pelvis of said subject, said enteric contrast medium formulation comprising:

• a stable aqueous suspension of the enteric contrast medium, the enteric contrast medium comprising encapsulated partial vacuum or gas microspheres, wherein the enteric contrast medium is stably suspended in an aqueous pharmaceutically acceptable vehicle;
• the enteric contrast medium formulation comprising from 10% (wt/wt) to 50% (wt/wt) of the enteric contrast medium;
• and
• the aqueous pharmaceutically acceptable vehicle comprising 0.2 to 0.5% xanthan gum as a suspending agent maintaining the microspheres in suspension, the formulation having a viscosity of from 50 g/cm-sec to 2400 g/cm-sec;
• and
• wherein each hollow microsphere comprises a glass microparticle comprising a central void defined by a solid silicon dioxide shell, comprising silicon dioxide and maintaining within the central void an encapsulated gas or partial, suspended in an aqueous pharmaceutically acceptable vehicle component partial vacuum.

A method of acquiring a contrast enhanced MR image of a subject, said method comprising:

• contemporaneously with performing a medical MR imaging procedure on said subject, administering to said subject a diagnostically effective amount of an enteric contrast medium formulation contemporaneous with a medical MR imaging procedure performed on said subject, wherein said enteric contrast medium formulation comprises:
• a stable aqueous suspension of the enteric contrast medium, the enteric contrast medium comprising encapsulated partial vacuum or gas microspheres, wherein the enteric contrast medium is stably suspended in an aqueous pharmaceutically acceptable vehicle;
• the enteric contrast medium formulation comprising from 10% (wt/wt) to 50% (wt/wt) of the enteric contrast medium;
• and
• the aqueous pharmaceutically acceptable vehicle comprising 0.2 to 0.5% xanthan gum as a suspending agent maintaining the microspheres in suspension, the formulation having a viscosity of from 50 g/cm-sec to 2400 g/cm-sec;
• and
• wherein each hollow microsphere comprises a glass microparticle comprising a central void defined by a solid silicon dioxide shell comprising, silicon dioxide and maintaining within the central void an encapsulated gas or partial vacuum;
• and
• performing a medical MR imaging procedure on said subject, thereby acquiring the contrast enhanced MR image of the subject.

A MR image of at least a portion of the gastrointestinal tract of a subject, the MR image containing a first region of interest, which includes a lumen of a gastrointestinal tract structure and an interior void of said subject gastrointestinal tract structure defined by said lumen, the interior void having distributed therein suspended particles,

• wherein each particle comprises a hollow microsphere encapsulating gas or partial vacuum suspended in water containing 0.2 to 0.5% xanthan gum as a suspending agent maintaining the microspheres in suspension, the suspension having a viscosity of from 50 g/cm-sec to 2400 g/cm-sec;
• the suspension comprising from 10% (wt/wt) to 50% (wt/wt) of the particles;
• and
• wherein each hollow microsphere comprises a glass microparticle comprising a central void defined by a solid silicon dioxide shell, comprising silicon dioxide and maintaining within the central void an encapsulated gas or partial, suspended in an aqueous pharmaceutically acceptable vehicle component partial vacuum.