Magnetic resonance medical imaging, which is built on the principles of nuclear magnetic resonance, generates a picture of the NMR signal in a narrow slice right through the human body. Pictures taken sequentially build a three dimensional picture of anatomical structures. Magnetic resonance medical imaging is the analytical tool of choice for viewing the nervous system as well as assessing soft tissue.
Molecular magnetic resonance imaging allows for the visualization and analysis of cells and molecules. At this level, it's doable to track and evaluate cellular functions that will give never-before-available medical imaging insight into the nature of the disease process. For example, there has long been an established correlation between inflammation and heart disease. Nevertheless, the medical imaging tools to calculate inflammation related to the heart have simply not been available at a fine enough level of measurement to fully explore the connection.
On January sixteenth 2007 the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published a study by researchers at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York that uses molecular MRI medical imaging to obtain insight into the relationship connecting inflammation and heart disease. Researchers created a synthetic material, gadoliniumdiethyltriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA), that's able to track down and connect to WBC's (white blood cells) imbedded in arterial walls. The DPTA permitted mMRI medical imaging visualization of the WBC's, they could actually number the cells and assess their stability. Researchers discovered a relationship between the amount of white cells imbedded in the arterial walls and the odds of subsequent heart attack. The primary research was conducted on mice. Additional research will be conducted on bigger mammals and if successful, the research will move to human clinical trials. The search for more effective and more specific medical imaging tagging media is the hottest new field of research in molecular magnetic resonance medical imaging. Recently, researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley have reported on research concerning a new medical imaging technique for molecular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that can perceive molecules 10,000 times lower concentrations than conventional MRI techniques. The technique, called HYPER-CEST, for hyperpolarized xenon chemical exchange saturation transfer, hyperpolarizes atoms with laser light to enhance their MRI signal, then puts the atoms into a nanoscale cage biosensor which is created specific for a particular protein target. This medical imaging technique is expected to be very useful in identifying cancer cells at the most primitive stages of cancer.
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