High-resolution Phosphocreatine and Creatine Mapping of Human Muscle and Brain
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- This is an observational study: the protocol does not assign a study treatment.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Healthy. Basic parameters: 18 years — 80 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- United States
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
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Overview
In this study, we aim to develop and validate a noninvasive approach for quantifying and imaging energy metabolism, without contrast agents, on widely available clinical MRI scanners. Briefly, this technique allows specific and selective imaging of the energy metabolite phosphocreatine (PCr), in vivo and non-invasively. PCr is one of the predominant high-energy phosphates present in brain and muscle and one that is altered by common diseases. Although energy metabolism and PCr play a vital role in cellular homeostasis, there currently are no routine diagnostic tests to noninvasively quantify or map the distribution of PCr with clinically acceptable spatial resolution or/and scan time. Here, we demonstrate that the exchangeable guanidinium protons of millimolar concentration PCr can be exploited to detect it via the water signal in MRI with greatly enhanced sensitivity (molar signal) using chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) MRI, and its concentration can be quantified using an artificial neural network (ANN). This new technique, dubbed ANNCEST, allowed us to obtain a high-resolution PCr map on human skeletal muscle within 1.5 min, on a 3T clinical MRI scanner equipped with just the standard MRI setup. To put this in a larger perspective, energy metabolism is critical for cell viability and is altered by many common acquired and inherited diseases. ANNCEST is arguably the first to use widely available MRI scanners to noninvasively image tissue energy metabolism of PCr, and thus would have appeal to a broad readership of scientists and clinicians interested in neurology, muscular dystrophies and myopathies as well as cardiology, to name a few.
Primary outcome measures
- High-resolution phosphocreatine and creatine mapping of human skeletal muscle and brain [Time frame: 5 years]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
Subject must be at least 18 years of age Subject must be willing and able to undergo verbal and written informed consent Healthy subjects will have no history of cardiovascular or peripheral vascular disease, diabetes, claudication or difficulty walking.
Exclusion criteria
1.) Unable to understand the risks, benefits, and alternatives of participation and give meaningful consent, 2.) Contraindications to MRI such (eg implanted metallic objects) 3.) Significant cardiovascular (heart failure, significant coronary artery disease, infiltrative or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, constrictive pericarditis), pulmonary or musculoskeletal or orthopedic disease that significantly limit exercise capacity 4.) Weight greater than 350 lbs (inability to fit in the MRI), 5.) Cognitive or speech impairments that would limit completion of questionnaires or fatigue reporting. 6) Subjects with rest pain, critical limb ischemia will be excluded for the study. 7) Pregnant women
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: Yes
Study design
- Observational model
- Cohort
Study locations
United States · 1 center
- F. M. Kirby Center and Johns Hopkins University Medical School — Baltimore
Identifiers
NCT: NCT04234880 · IRB00072712