Metabolic Imaging of the Human Brain with Hyperpolarized 13C Pyruvate Demonstrates 13C Lactate Production in Brain Tumor Patients

Hyperpolarized (HP) magnetic resonance imaging using [1-13C] pyruvate is a novel method that can characterize energy metabolism in the human brain and brain tumors. Here we present the first dynamically acquired human brain HP 13C metabolic spectra and spatial metabolite maps in cases of both untreated and recurrent tumors. In vivo production of HP lactate from HP pyruvate by tumors was indicative of altered cancer metabolism, while production of HP lactate in the entire brain was likely due to baseline metabolism. We correlated our results with standard clinical brain MRI, MRI DCE perfusion, and in one case FDG PET/CT. Our results suggest that HP 13C pyruvate-to-lactate conversion may be a viable metabolic biomarker for assessing tumor response.

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