Affiliations: [a] Radiation Biology Branch, Division of Clinical Sciences, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA | [b] EPR Center, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Murali C. Krishna, Radiation Biology Branch, National Cancer Institute, Bldg. 10, Room B3-B69, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. Tel.: +1 301 496-7511; Fax: +1 301 480-2238
Abstract: The potential use of electron paramagnetic resonance imaging (EPRI) to obtain physiological information noninvasively is reviewed. EPR, a spectroscopic technique similar to nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), is useful in detecting and characterizing free radical species. The ability to obtain information about tissue redox and oxygen status using nontoxic free radical spin probes is presented. The capability to encode this information spatially using magnetic field gradients, similar to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), gives this technique the ability to overlay functional information of tissue with anatomic information. The noninvasive and quantitative nature of EPRI makes it a potentially useful technique for obtaining physiological information from tumors. The requirements for the magnetic field strengths are approximately 600 times lower than that for proton MRI at an identical frequency, making this a low-cost diagnostic tool.
DOI: 10.3233/BD-1998-103-420
Journal: Breast Disease, vol. 10, no. 3-4, pp. 209-220, 1998
