Functional brown adipose tissue imaging technique
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsAngus Zoen Lau, Albert Po-Fu Chen, Charles H. Cunningham
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed embodiments for assessing brown adipose tissue use imaging of metabolic contrast agents. For example, activated brown adipose tissue may be assessed by evaluating a difference in production of the hyperpolarized 13C metabolic contrast agent from a pre-polarized 13C metabolic contrast agent precursor before and after exposure of the subject to an activating event or agent. In one embodiment, the subject is given a dose of norepinephrine, and the production of the hyperpolarized 13C metabolic contrast agent before and after the dose is assessed.
Claims19
A method for detecting brown adipose tissue, comprising:
- acquiring one or more images of an adipose tissue of a subject representative of a relative level of a pre-polarized metabolic contrast agent, its metabolic products, or a combination thereof;
- acquiring one or more activated tissue images of the subject representative of a relative level of the pre-polarized metabolic contrast agent and/or its metabolic products after exposing the subject to a brown adipose tissue activating agent or event;
- determining a difference between the one or more images and the one or more activated tissue images;
- and
- determining a presence or volume of brown adipose tissue activation based at least in part on the difference between the one or more images and the one or more activated tissue images.
An imaging system, comprising:
- a processor configured to receive and process image data, wherein in the processor is configured to:
- receive a baseline tissue image of a subject with a 13C metabolic contrast agent in a bloodstream of the subject;
- receive an activated tissue image of a subject with the 13C metabolic contrast agent in the bloodstream of the subject after exposing the subject to a brown adipose tissue activating agent or event, wherein the baseline tissue image and the activated tissue image are representative of a concentration of one or more hyperpolarized 13C products of the 13C metabolic contrast agent;
- determine a difference between the baseline tissue image and the activated tissue image;
- and
- determine a level or presence of brown adipose tissue activation based at least in part on the difference;
- and
- a display coupled to the processor and configured to provide an indication related to the level or presence of brown adipose tissue activation.
An imaging method, comprising:
- injecting a pre-polarized 13C metabolic contrast agent into a bloodstream of a subject;
- exposing the subject to a brown adipose tissue activating agent or event;
- and
- providing one or more inputs to an imaging system to instruct the imaging system to obtain a plurality of images of the subject, wherein the images comprise a baseline tissue image and an activated tissue of the subject, wherein the baseline image is obtained before exposing the subject to the brown adipose tissue activating agent or event and the activated tissue image is acquired after exposing the subject to the brown adipose tissue activating agent or event.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.