The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 09, 2017
Filed:
Aug. 29, 2014
Duke University, Durham, NC (US);
Warren S. Warren, Durham, NC (US);
Duke University, Durham, NC (US);
Abstract
Methods are described for preparing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and/or magnetic resonance spectroscopy contrast agents where the contrast agents are prepared from precursor molecules having at least four non-zero-spin nuclei that form two pairs of chemically equivalent or effectively equivalent nuclei, e.g., diphenylacetylene or diethyl oxalate. The precursor molecule is hyperpolarized and a sequence of one or more radiofrequency pulses is applied to transfer spin state population between the first and second pair of nuclei, thereby providing a non-equilibrium single state nuclear spin population. To detect the contrast agent, another sequence of one or more radiofrequency pulses is applied to transfer singlet order to polarization. No transformation of the molecular structure of the contrast agent is necessary for detection. Also described are methods of imaging targets using the contrast agents.