In Vivo Absolute MR Thermometry with Hyperpolarized Xenon

Temperature is extremely hard to measure inside living organisms non-invasively. Optical techniques such as infrared thermography enable precise temperature measurement, but have a limited penetration depth. Most of the other existing techniques such as MRI, which can penetrate tissue effectively, can measure only changes in temperature with a limited accuracy in tissues in the presence of magnetic field inhomogeneities. Prof. Branca will describe a new method that uses MRI with hyperpolarized xenon gas to measure temperature in vivo with a higher degree of accuracy than conventional proton-based MR techniques, independently of magnetic field inhomogeneities.